The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Story

Kanzi and her Egyptian-American family have moved to a new home. She has a special quilt made by her grandmother, Teita, who still lives in Egypt. Kanzi is preparing for her first day of a new school. Though she enjoys the traditional food her mother prepares; she doesn’t want to be different than the other students. She just wishes she could have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. When her mother comes into the class and calls her by an Arabic term of endearment, another student teases her. Fortunately, Kanzi’s kind and understanding teacher assures her that it is beautiful to be bilingual and she shouldn’t be ashamed. Kanzi loves to write poetry and when she returns home, she wraps herself in her quilt and writes about it. When her teacher reads the poem, she asks Kanzi to share the quilt with the class. The students are fascinated by the quilt and want to make their own. Kenzi’s mother comes to class and shows each child how to write their name in Arabic. The children use their Arabic names to design their own square. The squares are combined into a beautiful quilt which they proudly display in the school’s hallway. Reasons why I think you should add this to your book shelf: • Kanzi is a poet! • Kenzi truly values the quilt made by her grandmother. It even inspires her poetry • Kenzi’s third grade teacher handles a difficult, but too common problem, with loving concern and she shares English words that have Arabic roots such as vanilla, algebra, and sugar with the class • The girl who made fun of Kenzi apologizes and makes amends (forgiveness doesn’t show up very often in picture books) • The Arabic Quilt addresses issues many children deal with such as starting a new school, not wanting to be different, teasing and bullying, and being an immigrant • The Arabic Quilt celebrates different cultures and shows that though outwardly different, people share many things in common • The story is positive and satisfying – (spoiler alert) the Arabic quilt inspires another class to make their own quilt using the children’s names in Japanese • The beautiful illustrations are vibrant, kid friendly and are perfect for this book

What a beautiful story about appreciating other languages and cultures. When Kanzi moves to a new town with her Mama and Baba, she is afraid of being different as an Egyptian-american. But when one girl makes fun of her mama for speaking Arabic, Kanzi is ready to share who she is instead of hiding. She brings the quilt her teita made for her back in Egypt to school, and soon, her show and tell turns into an inclusive activity of making their own class quilt out of paper. The story is simple and straightforward, and shows how beautiful it is to learn about other cultures, but also how similar we all are, no matter where we're from. The pictures are colorful and expressive. You can learn a lot of about Kanzi's Egyptian heritage just by studying them. And I especially love the quilt pattern of the front and back covers. Just perfect! I also appreciate that there will be a glossary for the Arabic words that were used. I love learning words in other languages, and I think kids will be excited to learn words like "thank you" in Arabic. I hope to see more books like this that introduce other cultures in a fun and engaging way. Definitely recommend this beautiful book!

THE ARABIC QUILT is a fantastic story of inclusion, compassion, and of growth. The story revolves around Kanzi and her transition to America from Egypt. She feels out of place at school, eating lunch from her mom rather than the usual peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's not until her mother brings her grandmother's quilt to the classroom that the beginning of a bonding project starts. The students start working on a new quilt with each of their names on it, connecting with Kanzi's Arabic background. The story is heartwarming and provides pathways for connections with different cultures, which ultimately makes our relationships richer. The illustrations are top notch, with lots of tidbits to see on the page. Even the quilt spells out each students name in Arabic! The book has many points of interest to connect with readers on Arabic culture, like English words that came from Arabic and even some Arabic words that the reader can learn, like "shukrun" which means "thank you". I'm exited to read this book to my little nephew! Highly recommended!

I got this book for a read aloud in my kindergarten class, and it led to some great discussions! I had several students that had immigrated from various countries in Central and South America, and they were able to make connections to the protagonist. Also, my boyfriend is Egyptian-Canadian, and this was the first kid’s book that he had ever seen with Egyptian Arabic translanguaging/insertions. It is so important for children to be exposed to literature that represents a wide variety of languages and cultures, and I love that my students were able to learn about a new language and culture and my boyfriend was able to see a book in which his experiences and ways of speaking were reflected!

Sweet story that has a character ee all can relate to.

This is a beautiful book. A classroom library must have. It teaches tolerance, acceptance, and respect for multi-language students. The illustrations are outstanding.

THE ARABIC QUILT is such a poignant story with compelling characters and a storyline that's sure to leave you smiling in the end. I connected immediately to Kanzi and the conflict between her desire to fit in and her love for her family and culture. I loved the positive characters in her life, including Mama and her teacher Mrs. Haugen, and I loved the nuggets of information tucked away in its pages, like the English words that come from Arabic. What a sweet, sweet book!

The Arabic Quilt is a valuable story for children from early elementary through late elementary. I've read it to multiple age groups (k-2 and 3-5) and every time it held students' attention from beginning to end and led to rich, long discussion afterward. I think the many children of color I work with can definitely relate to the MC feeling out of place and maybe even ashamed of her background. It's an important book for white kids as it shows how words can hurt people from minority backgrounds. I loved this book and highly recommend.

Absolutely love the book. Really resonates with my life experiences and probably my children's.. amazing vibrant illustrations that celebrate art and art technique. A great addition to any library.