IT COULD HAVE BEEN ME

In this debut picture book, a Palestinian American girl befriends a refugee from her father’s homeland.

Yasmeen doesn’t understand why she must help her father, an immigrant from Palestine, bring donations to the masjid for refugees on the weekend. At his insistence, they go to their mosque, where Yasmeen encounters a girl named Sumoud. They discover they have a lot in common, such as being big sisters and liking Taylor Swift. The conversation soon shifts to the hardships of living in a Palestinian refugee camp. Sumoud explains: “The tents at the camp didn’t protect us from the bad weather, and the water we drank wasn’t always clean, so we got sick a lot.” That night, Yasmeen dreams of what her life would have been like if Baba had never left Palestine, an image so terrifying that it spurs her into action. She not only leaps at the opportunity to return to the masjid the following weekend, but also plans to find ways to help kids like Sumoud adjust to their lives in new countries. This beautiful book bridges a gap between cultures that has seen little attention from the publishing world despite the scale and immediacy of the conflict it addresses. Abdulkarim thoughtfully introduces Sumoud’s world to readers through Yasmeen— as well as some basic Arabic vocabulary through asides in the corners of some pages. Alshalabi’s illustrations are full of muted natural tones that emphasize the text’s meditative nature.

A compelling and empathetic introduction to displacement and mutual aid.