Mahasin: I love the details of Asiya’s hairstyle. I also like that Asiya’s style without hijab is distinctive and cool. Right at the beginning it’s established that this is a moment of pride, a moment of togetherness, a moment of consent, a moment of choice, and a moment of affirmation.Īriana: I like differentiation in the scarf style preference between Asiya and her mother, her mother in an abaya and a long khimar, a hint of how they might differ in hijab style. I find the ritual of going to the store as a family so powerful, because I think that there’s this idea often times that wearing a scarf is forced upon girls and if they had the choice they wouldn’t choose to wear it. Mahasin: That is not an uncommon pronunciation of the name, especially in African-American communities. I thought about how it would create a different experience for readers listening to the book and reading the text and how it’s another point of identity that would make the experience of the story richer in this case. In the audio recording, her name is pronounced A-see-yuh it was interesting for me to hear how Asiya’s name is pronounced in her family. At that point I had only heard the name Asiya pronounced Aah-si-ya or Aa-si-ya. To see both faces of the sisters…I think just seeing the cover will just make a lot of little girls in particular really happy.Īriana: When I went to a presentation for this, there was a reading of the text by Ibtihaj.
Mahasin: For me it is still unusual to see African American Muslim representation in children’s books and seeing people who look like me and my family.
The cover clearly conveys the concepts and themes– beauty of the blue hijab, ocean and sky, the endless possibilities. The conversation has been edited for clarity.Īriana: My first appreciation is seeing multiple Muslims involved in the process of this book from the author, Ibtihaj Muhammad with S.K. This book discussion was conducted on May 12, 2019, and was based on the fold & gather, received from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. Faizah admires older sister Asiya’s new, strikingly blue and beautiful first-day-hijab, finding inner strength and pride when facing bullies at school who make fun of it.
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