My daughter designed these colorful bookmarks after we recently received the book Milloo’s Mind: The Story of Maryam Faruqi, Trailblazer for Women’s Education by Reem Faruqi (Author), Hoda Hadadi (Illustrator) from the publisher HarperCollins to review for Multicultural Children’s Book Day. I was thrilled to receive a copy of this book as Reem Faruqi is one of our favorite authors in our house. Be sure to check out her extensive book list below. This story is personal as it about her grandmother who was an important figure in education in Pakistan. Maryam Faruqi, nicknamed Milloo, founded the ..read more

Welcome 2022 and the following 35+ beautiful children books by Arab and/or Muslim authors, or about Arab and/or Muslim kids, to enjoy! With January upon us, it means that Multicultural Children’s Book Day is right around the corner. I am so excited to be co-Hosting anothehttps://acraftyarab.com/2021/01/mosque-mud-painting-tutorial-plus-in-my-mosque-review/r year and will be sharing a review of a book on January 26th, 2022. To recap, I was sent a Persian book in 2017, and a Sudanese book in 2018, both great additions to diverse kidlit book shelves around the world. I was fortune enough to rece ..read more

I am once again participating in the 2021 Fall Writing Frenzy contest with my 150 word, short story entry ‘THE RETURN OF MAWLID’ below. What is Fall Writing Frenzy? It is a contest put together by Kaitlyn Sanchez, with the help of Lydia Lukidis, and the goal is to challenge writers to write something different. Plus it will connect contest winners with established literary professionals. If selected, a generous donor will critique a work of choice. Mawlid Al Nabi will be on October 18th and is the celebration of the Prophet Mohammed’s (pbuh) birthday. The exact day when it will occur is based ..read more

I am honored to be speaking about Muslim children literature at the Children Book Academy 2021 Picture Book Palooza conference this upcoming weekend, including this list of kids books about the hijab. I will be on the Sunday September 19th panel at 10am on Jewish, Muslim and Christian KidLit. These authors and I will look into our similarities while sharing our culture and religion with our readers. Nancy Churnin, Vivian Kirkfield, Melissa Stoller, Shirin Shamsi & Callie Metler Smith show how similar we all are in their books! I will discuss how I have dedicated my life to promoting a po ..read more

I am participating, with an Algerian Olympic Gold Medal short story, in the #SunWriteFun writing contest for children’s writers, being held by Karen Greenwald and Jennifer Buchet. We follow the Olympics very closely in our home, creating activities and crafts for Arab teams. We love to make flags to cheer them on during their sport. Coming up with only one story was the hardest portion of this process as I had so many to share. I decided to write about middle-distance runner Hassiba Boulmerka because she made so many sacrifices for the love of her sport. She was spat upon and pelted with sto ..read more

We are in the process of making Eid gift boxes for our neighbors. We wanted to show you what we have put inside in case you needed ideas of what to add to your own Eid gift box. Dates! We bought a box of open dates and used a latex free plastic gloves to put them into plastic mini bags. We found delisious almond cookies and again placed them into plastic bags. The third compartment of the box we added bakalwa that we found already individually wrapped. The fourth compartment we added a surprise. We added two bookmarks to the top. We hope our neighbors enjoy their Eid celebration boxes ..read more

We are so honored to host a guest post for our Ramadan crafts 30 day challenge from CarpetCentre. Laila is sharing her favorite decorating tips to get your home ready for Eid. If you have a craft, resource, or recipe you’d like to share, please let us know. XxXxX Eid Home Decor Ideas Eid Al Fitr, celebrated at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, is a very special time of the year for Muslim communities. It is the season for prayer and reflection, and for showing compassion to others. For 30 days, Muslims embarked on a journey to strengthen their spirituality, practice self-control and extend ..read more

We are so honored to host a guest post for our Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge from Sarah at SarahIJaved. Sister Sarah is sharing how she made these bright and colorful Eid party crackers, which are great fun to pull apart to discover a treat inside. To celebrate our 11th annual Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge, we are hosting guest posts for most of the month, if you have a craft, resource, or recipe you’d like to share, please let us know. XxXxX Eid Party Crackers These crackers make any table look Eid ready. They are quick and easy to make and fun to pull apart and enjoy with friends and fa ..read more

We are so honored to host a guest post for our Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge from my husband. He decided to be super dad and give me the day off for Mother’s Day. He spent time with our daughters designing and supervised the building of a no-bake graham cracker mosque. To celebrate our 11th annual Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge, we are hosting guest posts for most of the month, if you have a craft, resource, or recipe you’d like to share, please let us know. XxXxX Supplies Graham crackers Icing Waffle bowl Various candies Piroloune cookie Round cookie They covered a piece of cardboard w ..read more

We are so honored to host a guest post for our Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge from Julia at Nurture with Art and Nature. Sister Julia is sharing how she made these eight moon phases peg dolls, which include stunning moon hats and an out-of-this-world solar base. To celebrate our 11th annual Ramadan crafts 30-day challenge, we are hosting guest posts for most of the month, if you have a craft, resource, or recipe you’d like to share, please let us know. XxXxX Assallamualeykum my fellow crafty brothers and sisters. My name is Julia and I am a homeschooling Mum of 4. I just started a new channe ..read more