Read about Kids Living in the Middle East
Discover the best books about kids living in the Middle East. Explore engaging stories that highlight culture, family, and daily life for young readers.
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The Breadwinner
by Deborah Ellis
Because the Taliban rulers of Kabul, Afghanistan, impose strict limitations on women's freedom and behavior, eleven-year-old Parvana must disguise herself as a boy so that her family can survive after her father's arrest.
Book
The Parallel Universe of Liars
by Kathleen Jeffrie Johnson
Robin’s neighbor Frankie is like walking sex. He’s 23, hot, charming, and used to getting what he wants. When Janice, Robin’s stepmom, first meets Frankie, they lock eyes with an almost audible sizzle. Not long after, Robin discovers they’re having an affair. She is shocked, angry, curious, even jealous—but not really surprised. It’s just one more hurtful secret to be kept in this parallel universe of liars. Surrounded by superficiality, infidelity, and lies, Robin, 15 and a self-described “chunk,” has a secret of her own—she can’t stay away from Frankie, either. But when a new guy ambles into her life, Robin must find a way to escape her own tangle of deception to capture something real.
Book
Persepolis
by Marjane Satrapi
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Wise, funny, and heartbreaking, Persepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s acclaimed graphic memoir of growing up in Iran during the Islamic Revolution. “A wholly original achievement.... Satrapi evokes herself and her schoolmates coming of age in a world of protests and disappearances.... A stark, shocking impact.” —The New York Times: "The 50 Best Memoirs of the Past 50 Years" One of the New York Times’s 100 Best Books of the 21st Century In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the coming-of-age story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq. The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors, Marjane bears witness to a childhood uniquely entwined with the history of her country. Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. It shows how we carry on, with laughter and tears, in the face of absurdity. And, finally, it introduces us to an irresistible little girl with whom we cannot help but fall in love.
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Haveli
by Suzanne Fisher Staples
In this sequel to the Newbery Honor book "Shabanu, " Shabanu, the youngest ofRahim's four wives, flees with her daughter to Rahim's old family home in thecity to escape the cruelty and jealously of his other wives.
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Samir and Yonatan
by Daniella Carmi
Samir, is sent to an Israeli hospital where he makes friends with an Israeli boy, who travels with him to Mars, and finds peace about his brother's death.
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Parvana's Journey
by Deborah Ellis
After her father's death, Parvana, now thirteen-years-old, continues to search for her mother in war-torn Afghanistan, joining with two younger children who are also struggling to survive.
Book
Broken Bridge
by Lynne Reid Banks
The murder of fourteen-year-old Glen Shelby, soon after his arrival in Israel to visit his father's family, has a dramatic effect on the lives of his relatives, the other members of their kibbutz, and the Arabs responsible for his death. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.
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Running on Eggs
by Anna Levine
When Karen and Yasmine become friends as well as members of a mixed Arab and Jewish track team in Israel, relatives and friends of both girls disapprove of the relationship.
Book
Real Time
by Pnina Kass
Sixteen-year-old Thomas Wanninger is on a mission: to find out what his grandfather, a Nazi officer, did during World War II. Thomas is going to Israel to work on a kibbutz, where he will have access to a Jerusalem archive that may hold the information he seeks. His life is one of many to be affected by a terrorist attack that occurs at 11:47 A.M. on the day he arrives. Kibbutz members, a doctor, "the boss” of a diner, two Palestinian teenagers and their families, a bus driver, policemen, a news correspondent, an Israeli soldier, a Holocaust survivor . . . these and others add their voices to the minute-by-minute account of a catastrophic incident that changes everything, while at the same time renewing a deadly cycle of sacrifice and destruction. Pnina Kass, who lives in Israel, delivers an even-handed and powerful portrayal of the complex world her characters inhabit. Chilling, suspenseful, and frighteningly real, this novel could be the back story behind tomorrow’s news.
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The Dog of Knots
by Kathy Walden Kaplan
In1973 Israel at the onset of Yom Kipper War, a nine year old girl struggles about her future, service to the army, but find comfort in friends, relatives, and a very old, stray dog with no name.
