Children's Books from and about Palestine
In collaboration with
This ongoing project initiated by IBBY UK honours the existence of books from and about Palestine that the world's children can share.
Picture Books
1 · The Lilac Girl | This book was written in Arabic and was a winner of the Sheikh Zayed Book Award and is now available in English in a translation by the author. Tamam can only visit her childhood home in her dreams and in creative expression through drawing and painting. When she visits her house in her imagination, the door is closed but its colours seep out and follow her. A story simply told but full of meaning. |
| 2 · What becomes of Eid? Children of the Sea and Groves Tamer Institute for Community Education, 2022 ISBN 978-9950-270-66-4 | Dual language edition of stories of children in Gaza reflecting on Eid. Eid celebrations that have been lost and their hopes for the future. |
| 3 · These Olive Trees. A Palestinian Family’s Story Aya Ghanameh Viking, USA 2023 ISBN 978-059-3525-18-0 | The significance of the olive tree in Palestinian culture, history and survival is shown in this story based on the life of the author/illustrator’s grandmother, Oraib, born after the Nakba and destined to move to different refugee camps, always tending olive trees where they can and seeing them as a symbol of return. |
| 4 · Loose Threads (La Costura) Isol, translated from Spanish by Lawrence Schimel Enchanted Lion Books, USA 2024 ISBN 978-159-270-392-0 | Internationally acclaimed Argentinian author/illustrator Isol created this picturebook about Leilah who is always losing things and tries to find a solution for this, believing that they are slipping through to a mysterious Other Side. It was originally conceived for a project ‘Palestinian Art History as Told by Everyday Objects’ and inspired by a traditional hand-embroidered shawl, given to Isol when she visited the Tamer Institute, photos of which form the backgrounds of the illustrations. |
| 5 · Sitti’s Bird. A Gaza Story Malak Mattar Crocodile Books, USA 2024 ISBN 978-16-237-1691-2 | Malak Mattar draws on her own experience as a child under occupation, describing her everyday life with her family and at school that is shattered by the escalation of Israel’s 2014 bombing of Gaza. She copes by discovering by expressing her artistic talent, using it as a means of communication within and beyond Palestine. |
| 6 · Homeland. My Father Dreams of Palestine Hannah Moushabeck and Reem Madooh Chronicle, San Francisco, USA 2023 ISBN 978-17-972-0205-1 | This autobiographical picturebook reveals much about everyday life in Palestine prior to the Nakba with warmly related descriptions based on the stories told to the author by her father. We see and hear about their neighbours, their food, their music. While settled in the USA these children of the diaspora dream of the homeland of their family that they are unable to visit. |
| 7 · A Map for Falasteen. A Palestinian Child’s Search for Home Maysa Odeh and Aliaa Betawi O’Brien Press, Dublin, Ireland 2024 ISBN 978-1788-495-55-4 | A child questions why her homeland of Palestine doesn’t appear on the map. Her family help her to understand how this has happened and her grandfather draws her a map to share with her teacher and friends. An author’s note provides personal and historical details. |
| 8 · They Are Not Numbers Sally Samir, translated by Ibrahim El-Tohamy & Hadeel Abdelsalam Marah Publishing House, Egypt 2024 ISBN 978-9779-675-30-5 | A dual-language picture book published in 2024 that painfully documents the grief, loss and death of children during the genocide. The simply drawn but powerful drawings are used for posters as well as illustrations in the book. |
From no.8 · Sally Samir: They Are Not Numbers
Fiction
| 9 · Code Name: Butterfly Ahlam Bsharat, translated from Arabic by Nancy Roberts Neem Tree Press, London 2016 ISBN 978-1911-107-02-6 | A short YA novel that was nominated to the IBBY Honour List in its original Arabic edition published in 2009. The young woman narrator uses the name Butterfly as her alter ego as she tries to make sense of the lives of those around her at personal and political levels as people living under occupation. She is an acute observer, considered to be ‘shrewd’ by her family but is often puzzled by people’s motivations. |
| 10 · Trees for the Absentees Ahlam Bsharat, translated from Arabic by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp and Sue Copeland Neem Tree Press, London 2019 ISBN 978-1911-107-23-1 | Originally published in Arabic in 2013 by the Tamer Institute. Philistia’s world melds reality and dreams. In many ways she has grown up quickly, initiated into ‘the secrets of life and the secrets of death’ by her Grandma Zahia with whom she works part-time with women in the hammam while in other respects her life is socially restricted. She relates her feelings by letter to her father in prison and exchanges confidences with her friend Fathia. She converses with Bayrakdar – does he exist or is he a figment of her imagination? For older teenagers. |
| 11 · A Little Piece of Ground Elizabeth Laird with Sonia Nimr Macmillan, London 2003 ISBN 978-1509-887-63-7 | Written by a UK author, who has lived in the Middle East and spent time in Palestine, in collaboration with a Palestinian author, this story is seen through the eyes of Karim as he and his friends try to lead a normal life in a country under occupation by claiming a piece of ground where they can play football in peace. First published more than 20 years ago this novel, which makes clear the daily humiliations suffered by Palestinians, continues to have deep resonance today. |
| 12 · Ida in the Middle Nora Lester Murad Crocodile Books, USA 2022 ISBN 978-1623-716-86-8 | Ida finds life tough in her American school due to her Palestinian heritage. The discovery of a jar of olives from her parents’ homeland transports her there and she experiences what life might have been like if her family had remained there and not moved to the USA. The author is from a Jewish American family, married to a Palestinian and they brought up their children in the West Bank. |
| 13 · Children of the Stone City Beverley Naidoo HarperCollins, London 2022 ISBN 978-0008-471-74-3 | In this allegorical story Palestine and Israel are never named although the link is made in the acknowledgements by the author who has worked with young people in Palestine. There are clear analogies with the situation there – the division of society into Permitteds and Nons, the presence of a wall, the requirement of permits to travel and for residency, people being evicted from their homes. There are also cultural references to food and the environment and the significant presence of olive trees. While the situation in Palestine is in many ways unique – the allegorical approach enables identification with other places where people are divided. |
| 14 · Wondrous Journeys in Strange Lands Sonia Nimr, translated by Marcia Lynx Qualey Interlink Books, USA 2021 ISBN 978-1623-718-66-4 | This YA novel won the 2014 Etisalat Award. It is an engaging historical fable, told by Qamar, whose name means Moon, as she travels across continents, finding adventure, friendship, fulfilment and tragedy along the way during a life in which an abiding love of books and stories is paramount. |
| 15 · The Thunderbird Trilogy Sonia Nimr, translated from Arabic by M. Lynx Qualey. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of Texas at Austin, USA 2022 Book 1 ISBN 978-1477-325-81-0 | A time-travelling fantasy centred on a young Palestinian girl. Noor has a mission to travel back in time to prevent the barrier between the worlds of humans and the djinn from breaking down and causing chaos and destruction. The gateway to the past is in Jerusalem and Noor has a checkpoint to get through in the 21st century before she can access and learn about the past. |
Poetry
| 16 · Everything Comes Next. Collected & New Poems Naomi Shihab Nye, illustrated by Rafael López Greenwillow, New York 2022 ISBN 978-0063-013-46-9 | This collection of poems by a highly regarded Palestinian American poet includes many related to Palestine. Naomi Shihab Nye has also written fiction such as Habibi (Simon & Schuster USA ISBN 978-0689-825-23-1) and picture book texts such as Sitti’s Secrets, illustrated by Nancy Carpenter (Aladdin ISBN 978-0689-817-06-9). |
Nonfiction
| 17 · Tasting the Sky. A Palestinian Childhood Ibtisam Barakat Farrar, Straus & Giroux (Melanie Kroupa Books) USA 2007 ISBN 978-0374-357-33-7 | A memoir of the writer’s own childhood. She has also written a further volume: Balcony on the Moon. Coming of Age in Palestine (Square Fish 2018 ISBN 978-1250-144-29-4) which follows her through 1972-1981 and chronicles her desire to be a writer. |
| 18 · We Are Palestinian. A Celebration of Culture and Tradition Reem Kassis and Noha Eilouti Studio Press, London 2023 ISBN 978-1800-783-28-7 | A wide-ranging celebration of the Palestinian people warmly described by a writer who loves her land and culture. The sadness of recent history is evident but here beauty and resilience are to the fore as many people including contemporary thinkers, artists, writers and musicians are introduced and topics including cuisine, cinema and caricature are explored, creating a desire in young readers to discover more. |
| 19 · Young Palestinians Speak. Living Under Occupation Anthony Robinson & Annemarie Young Interlink Books, USA 2025 ISBN 978-1623-716-42-4 | An updated edition of a book first published in 2017. The authors visited Palestine and interviewed many children and young people about their lives and their thoughts and feelings about being under occupation. The book begins with a detailed description of the history and current situation and what life under occupation means for Palestinians. They move on to different places and ask questions but primarily let the children speak for themselves. As Muath, a child in Ramallah, says: ‘We are just people trying to live here. Living in a prison, with no freedom of movement.’ |
| 20 · Sarha Tamer Institute for Community Education Tamer Institute, Palestine 2024 No ISBN | Dual language edition of the catalogue of the artistic and literary works produced by young people during the ‘Owning a Place’ project in the Al-Sweidi refugee camp area on the Egyptian-Palestinian border. |
From no.8 · Sally Samir: They Are Not Numbers
Explore Further
- Multilingual List for Palestinian Resources for Children and Teens from Hadi Badi Books
- Tamer Institute
- Arab KidLit Now
- "Beyond the Secret Garden: Palestinian People in Children’s Books". Darren Chetty and Karen Sands O’Connor. Books for Keeps. No. 267. July 2024.
- Takam Tikou: An online newsletter from the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris with information about books in French from and concerning the Arab World, Africa, the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean.
- Teach Palestine
© 2025 Sally Samir