What is it like to be a young person in the Arab world today? This lively collection of eight short stories about Arab teenagers living in Iraq, Tunisia, Egypt, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and a Palestinian refugee camp engagingly depicts young people's experiences growing up in the Middle East. The characters, drawn from urban and rural settings and from different classes as well as a mix of countries, confront situations involving friends, family, teachers, and society at large. Along with some specifically Middle Eastern issues, such as strife in Iraq, the hardships of life in a Palestinian refugee camp, and honor crimes, the young people deal with more familiar concerns such as loyalty to friends, overcoming personal insecurities, dreams of a future career, and coping with divorcing parents. Coming of age in a complicated world, they meet life with courage, determination, and, not least of all, humor. With accompanying notes that provide contextual information, Santa Claus in Baghdad brings a fresh perspective to youth literature about the Arab world.

I feel that I have been sleeping all my life and I have woken up and opened my eyes to the world. A beautiful world! But impossible to live in. These are the words of fifteen-year-old Hadiya, blogging from the city of Mosul, Iraq, to let the world know what life is really like as the military occupation of her country unfolds. In many ways, her life is familiar. She worries about exams and enjoys watching Friends during the rare hours that the electricity in her neighborhood is running. But the horrors of war surround her everywhere—weeklong curfews, relatives killed, and friends whose families are forced to flee their homes. With black humor and unflinching honesty, Hadiya shares the painful stories of lives changed forever. “Let’s go back,” she writes, “to my un-normal life.” With her intimate reflections on family, friendship, and community, IraqiGirl also allows us to witness the determination of one girl not only to survive, but to create, amidst the devastation of war, a future worth living for. "Hadiya's authentically teenage voice, emotional struggles and concerns make her story all the more resonant." —Publishers Weekly “Despite all the news coverage about the war in Iraq, very little is reported about how it affects the daily lives of ordinary citizens. A highschooler in the city of Mosul fills in the gap with this compilation of her blog posts about living under U.S. occupation. She writes in English because she wants to reach Americans, and in stark specifics, she records the terrifying dangers of car bombs on her street and American warplanes overhead, as well as her everyday struggles to concentrate on homework when there is no water and electricity at home. Her tone is balanced: she does not hate Americans, and although she never supported Saddam Hussein, she wonders why he was executed... Readers will appreciate the details about family, friends, school, and reading Harry Potter, as well as the ever-present big issues for which there are no simple answers." —Hazel Rochman, Booklist “IraqiGirl has poured reflections of her daily life into her blog, reaching all over the cyber-world from her home in northern Iraq. She writes about the universals of teen life—school, family, TV, food, Harry Potter—but always against the background of sudden explosions, outbursts of gunfire, carbombs, death.… [A]n important addition to multicultural literature.” —Elsa Marston, author of Santa Claus in Baghdad and Other Stories About Teens in the Arab World “A book as relevant to adults as teenagers and children. Hadiya’s clear, simple language conveys the feelings of a teenager, offering a glimpse into the daily life of a professional middle-class Iraqi family in an ancient-modern city subjected to a brutal occupation.” —Haifa Zangana, author of City of Widows: An Iraqi Woman's Account of War and Resistance

Taking a critical, research-oriented perspective, this book explores the theoretical, empirical, and pedagogical connections between reading and teaching young adult literature in middle and secondary classrooms and adolescent identity development.

This resource makes it easy for teachers and librarians working with middle-school children to infuse their curriculum with multicultural literature. Carefully vetted and annotated, it encompasses fiction and non-fiction published in the last decade, making it an ideal reference and collection development tool for schools and public libraries alike

Covering the genres popular with today's teens—fiction and nonfiction, including poetry and graphic novels—this resource provides 110 great book choices for young adult reading, interactive booktalks, and individual writing activities. All educators and library professionals need practical resources with easily accessible information and activities that can be immediately applied. Teen Talkback with Interactive Booktalks! is such a resource, supplying ready-to-use, interactive booktalks and curriculum connections for more than 100 recently published young adult books. This unique book is an invaluable tool for motivating teens to read. It shows how to make booktalks interactive and get teens participating in the presentation, rather than passively listening. Book selections include titles published from 2008 to 2012 organized in seven categories: Issues, Contemporary, Adventure/Survival, Mystery/Suspense, Fantasy, Heritage, and Multiple Cultures. Complete bibliographical information for each selection is included along with a literary classification as well as an age/grade level and gender designation. The read-alouds passages include talkback questions to facilitate discussion, and related works are supplied as suggestions for additional reading choices.

Many Americans, educators included, mistakenly believe all Arabs share the same culture, language, and religion, and have only recently begun immigrating to the United States. A Kid's Guide to Arab American History dispels these and other stereotypes and provides a contemporary as well as historical look at the people and experiences that have shaped Arab American culture. Each chapter focuses on a different group of Arab Americans including those of Lebanese, Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian, Egyptian, Iraqi, and Yemeni descent and features more than 50 fun activities that highlight their distinct arts, games, clothing, and food. Kids will love dancing the dabke, constructing a derbekke drum, playing a game of senet, making hummus, creating an arabesque design, and crafting an Egyptian-style cuff bracelet. Along the way they will learn to count in Kurdish, pick up a few Syrian words for family members, learn a Yemeni saying, and speak a little Iraqi. Short biographies of notable Arab Americans, including actor and philanthropist Danny Thomas, singer Paula Abdul, artist Helen Zughaib, and activist Ralph Nader, demonstrate a wide variety of careers and contributions.

This book introduces a set of pedagogical practices designed to assist adolescent English learners in developing their English skills in a way that honors and leverages their native languages and cultures. Responding to the linguistic and educational diversity of adolescents, the R.E.A.L. (Relevant, Engaging, and Affirming Literacy) method offers teachers a range of scalable activities, reading lists, and other resources, along with numerous suggestions on how to adapt them for students’particular needs. By sharing experiences from actual secondary English classes, Stewart presents diverse learners making meaningful connections to texts and responding through writing, speaking, and other artistic means. These students are developing high levels of literacy, English language skills, and even biliteracy through R.E.A.L. instruction that all English teachers can use. “Keep It R.E.A.L. is a must-read for secondary teachers and teacher educators who want their students to appreciate literacy as a critical resource for lifelong learning. This is truly an invaluable resource for teachers of multilingual youth.” —Christian Faltis, chair and professor, The Ohio State University “A must-have resource! The powerful student-centered and teacher-friendly framework Mary Amanda Stewart offers in this book makes building literacy skills for adolescent English learners achievable and impactful.” —Andrea Honigsfeld, associate dean and director, Molloy College, New York