Naomi Shihab Nye

These beautiful poems reflect both the Middle East and the Arab-American experience. Nye is a renowned poet for young people, and this collection revolves around her heritage.

Booklist: Florrie is outraged because big franchises are destroying her beloved San Antonio's historic neighborhoods, wiping out small family businesses, and bringing generic giants to the diverse community, where she helps out in her Lebanese Mexican mom's restaurant.

The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father announced that the family was moving from St. Louis all the way to Palestine. Though her father grew up there, Liyana knows very little about her family's Arab heritage. Her grandmother and the rest of her relatives who live in the West Bank are strangers, and speak a language she can't understand. It isn't until she meets Omer that her homesickness fades. But Omer is Jewish, and their friendship is silently forbidden in this land.

Warmly evoking the universality of a child's relationship with her grandmother, this book follows a girl's journey to a small village in Palestine, where she comes to know her grandmother Sitti. Once back in the United States, the child recalls the sights, sounds, and culture of Palestine as well as the commonalities between the Arabic and English speaking worlds.

Art combines with poetry and short prose pieces all by creators from Mexico for a culturally specific but emotionally universal literary experience. Stories are everywhere; you simply need to find them. Perhaps as one poet suggests in "The Lemon Tree": "the tree/is older than you are/and you might find stories/in its branches." Edited by Naomi Shihab Nye.

This accessible, exquisite novel shines with gentle humor and explores themes of moving, family, nature, and immigration. It tells the story of Aref Al-Amri, who must say good-bye to everything and everyone he loves in his hometown of Muscat, Oman, as his family prepares to move to Ann Arbor, Michigan. Aref does not want to leave Oman, his elementary school, his friends, or his beloved grandfather, Siddi. Finally, his mother calls Siddi for help so that Aref will pack. But rather than pack, Aref and Siddi go on a series of adventures.