The girl knows she's different. She doesn't age. She has no family. She has visions of a past life, but no clear clues as to what she is, or where she comes from. But there is a face in her dreams – a light that breaks through the darkness. She knows his name is Gabriel. On her way home from work, the girl encounters an injured stranger whose name is Jonah. Soon, she will understand that Jonah belongs to a generation of Vampires that serve darker forces. Jonah and the few like him are fighting with help from an unlikely ally, a rogue Angel named Gabriel. In the crossfire between good and evil, love and hate, and life and death, the girl learns her name: Lailah. But when the lines between black and white begin to blur, where in the spectrum will she find her place? And with whom? Gabriel and Jonah both want to protect her. But Lailah will have to fight her own battle to find out who she truly is.

"Jonah is the vampire who saved Lailah from the appetites of even darker evil: the vampire Purebloods. Now he must decide whether he will give up his existence so that Lailah will survive--even if it means that she will spend eternity with his friend and rival, the angel Gabriel"--

*2019 Daybreak Children's Picture Book Award -- Recognizing Muslim Women's Contributions to Literature* *Notable Social Studies Trade Book For Young People 2016, a cooperative Project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children’s Book Council* *Featured Book of the Month, Anti-Defamation League* *American Library Association Notable Book for Children 2016* *Skipping Stones Honor 2016* *International Literacy Association Choices Reading List* Lailah is in a new school in a new country, thousands of miles from her old home, and missing her old friends. When Ramadan begins, she is excited that she is finally old enough to participate in the fasting but worried that her classmates won’t understand why she doesn’t join them in the lunchroom. Lailah solves her problem with help from the school librarian and her teacher and in doing so learns that she can make new friends who respect her beliefs. This gentle, moving story from first-time author Reem Faruqi comes to life in Lea Lyon’s vibrant illustrations. Lyon uses decorative arabesque borders on intermittent spreads to contrast the ordered patterns of Islamic observances with the unbounded rhythms of American school days. Fountas & Pinnell Level N

Meet Shilah and Lailah! They are cousins who really enjoy each other's company. These two girls have many things in common, but in many ways, they are quite different! They spend time with one another almost every day. There is always something new and exciting when they get together. One day Shilah found herself quite bored until Lailah came over and helped her realize how easily people take things for granted. Read how Shilah learned a valuable lesson, and she was no longer bored!

Retells a folktale in which Lailah, a guardian angel, places the indentation that everyone has on the upper lip just before a baby is born.