“Those are my classmates’ names in Japanese!” Kura says. They are encouraged to work together to create something beautiful together. Throughout the book, the other children in Kanzi’s class and her school inspire one another to learn about each other’s culture. I think that this is powerful, because people don’t realize that words in their own language could stem from the language that they think sounds funny. Haugen starts writing words on the board: algebra, coffee, lemon, sugar.

My mom says we should only speak English.” In response, Mrs. “Who cares about Arabic? We live in America. Molly is not enthusiastic about the project. Not only is there a glossary of words written in Arabic in the back of the book, but Kanzi’s teacher discusses words whose origins are from Arabic when a student starts making fun of the way Arabic sounds. RELATED POSTS // Learning about Hajj for Non-Muslims She is comforted by the quilt that her grandma made for her, but longs to be understood by her classmates. We understand how she is trying to please both her parents and her new culture. My kids related their first day of school to Kanzi’s, both of them felt like they needed to make friends fast in order to fit in. She asks her mom to make her turkey sandwich for lunch instead of a traditional family meal. We are not told why Kanzi and her family moved from Egypt to America but we can relate to how Kanzi wants to fit in with the other kids. The book confronts the fears of being in a new place. The illustrations were vibrant and colorful. provided by the Author, Aya Khalil Review In the end, Kanzi’s most treasured reminder of her old home provides a pathway for acceptance in her new one.

Next day her teacher sees the poem and gets the entire class excited about creating a “quilt” (a paper collage) of student names in Arabic. That night, Kanzi wraps herself in the beautiful Arabic quilt her teita (grandma) in Cairo gave her and writes a poem in Arabic about the quilt. When Mama wears a hijab and calls her daughter Habibti (dear one). Kanzi’s family has moved from Egypt to America, and on her first day in a new school, what she wants more than anything is to fit in. It sounded really interesting, therefore I contacted the author and ask to review the book. A fellow multicultural blogger recently shared this awesome book “The Arabic Quilt” by Aya Khalil on Facebook.

The arabic quilt book