Saadia Faruqi

Yusuf Azeem has spent all his life in the small town of Frey, Texas--and nearly that long waiting for the chance to participate in the regional robotics competition, which he just knows he can win. Only, this year is going to be more difficult than he thought. Because this year is the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, an anniversary that has everyone in his Muslim community on edge. Can Yusuf hold onto his joy, and his friendships,...

"When her grandmother comes off the airplane in Houston from Pakistan, Mahnoor knows that having Dadi move in is going to disrupt everything about her life. She doesn't have time to be Dadi's unofficial babysitter: her journalism teacher has announced that their big assignment will be to film a documentary, which feels more like storytelling than what Maha would call 'journalism.' As Dadi starts to settle into life in Houston and Maha scrambles for...

When Marya's third-grade class participates in taking care of the school's new garden, Marya wants to be the student leader in charge, but every time she tries to prove she has what it takes to be a leader things get messy.

"Marya loves fall. Every year, her family goes to the town's fall festival and picks out the best pumpkin. But this year, after she sees her frenemy Alexa winning a big, cool pumpkin-shaped trophy, Marya knows she's got to win a trophy for something. It just so happens that her school is going to hold its own fall festival, with games and food and even a hayride. All the ticket sales will go to an animal shelter, and the person who sells the most...

Told in two voices, eleven-year-olds Mimi, who is visiting her wealthy grandparents in Karachi, Pakistan, for the first time and Sakina, daughter of the grandparents' cook, form an unexpected friendship.

Excited for spring break, third-graders Marya, Hanna, and Alexa plan their visit to Skye Adventure Park, determined to experience all the park has to offer, but when Marya becomes determined to beat Alexa on the park's obstacle course she loses sight of everything else the park has to offer.

Unsure about her artistic skills, second-grader Yasmin is not looking forward to the art competition at school--but with the support and encouragement of her family she produces a prize-winning painting.

While her parents are out to dinner, a bored Yasmin decides to try on some of her mother's clothes, including her new shalwar kameez, which gets ripped--but with the help of Nana, Nani, and a glue-gun, the garment gets fixed, and Yasmin puts on an impromptu fashion show when her parents get home.

Yasmin's family is hosting a big party, but Yasmin is worried that the traditional food her family is cooking is too spicy--so her family challenges Yasmin to come up with a dish of her own.

Yasmin is thrilled about her school's new recycling program, but getting her friends to pitch in is no easy task.