Islam is the second largest religion in the world and yet so far, in the five years I have been blogging, I have only reviewed two books featuring Muslim characters. One of these is actually just a single story in a collection called First Crossing. The other was On Two Feet and Wings about an Iranian boy who flees to Turkey.
This exclusion has made it glaringly apparent to me that in my reading and book reviews I need to be working even harder to make sure I feature books that reflect our world. #WeNeedDiverseBooks is not just about race. It’s about religion, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation and more. It’s about all of the people around us. Because many of these groups are underrepresented in kidlit and YA it can be sometimes difficult to even find diverse stories. But that is why it is even more important to seek out great books and share them with each other. There are many leading the charge, sharing diverse titles and demanding even more. If it matters to you, make your voice heard, supporting those who currently seek these books out and encouraging others to do the same. Librarians and bookstores need to know that we want to read about everyone. Agents, editors and publishers need to be made aware that we want these titles. Authors need to know that we care about their stories, that their individual perspective on the world matters. All of us need to do this because children need to read about themselves; they need to read about their friends and classmates; they need to read about people whose experiences are very different from their own.
While I will be making a greater effort to include books with Muslim characters into my typical blog themes, I felt the deficit was so great that I wanted to spend this next month reading only books with Muslim main characters. I consulted a few sources to help select the titles I’ll be reviewing. You may find them useful and interesting as well.
Rukhsana Khan’s List of Children’s Books with Muslim and Related Cultural Themes.
Kaye M’s article for School Library Journal on Muslim Representation in YA Lit
Na’ima B. Robert’s article for The Guardian: Where are all the Muslim characters in Children’s Fiction.
I’ve mostly settled on my list of books for the month, trying to make selections that will in some small way reflect the very diverse group of people that are Muslim. Some of the books are written by Muslim authors, some are not and in some cases information about the author’s religion was simply not available to me. The characters include people who Australian, Pakistani, American, Palestinian, Iranian. I’d love a recommendation for a book featuring a character from North Africa, if anyone has one. I discovered that it’s much harder to come by books about boys than it is about girls. My selections tend towards YA, which means I need more middle grades books. In other words, while looking for some balance, I found it is not that easy. Even with a deliberate effort to include a diverse selection of Muslim characters, I am excluding so many.
It’s really important to understand that even though I am spending a whole month reading books about Muslim characters, and have selected books showcasing characters from different backgrounds, still, these characters, even taken as a group, are not representative of all Muslims. Reflect for a moment on all of the books you have read with Christian characters. Certainly, religion has been at the forefront of a few of them, a mere side note or assumption in others, while the range of characters’ motivations, personalities, family structures, experiences is nearly infinite. Hopefully, at some point, we will have this depth and variety available for all people.
I would love to have some company and conversation along this journey, so if you’re interested in reading along, my first three titles (in order) will be:
