Counting Up the Olive Tree: A Palestine Number Book

Counting up the Olive Tree: A Palestine Number Book is a rhythmic adventure where little Palestinian football (soccer) players—boys and girls—work together to save an olive tree in a race against time.

Following on the extraordinary success of P Is for Palestine: A Palestine Alphabet Book, Golbarg Bashi teamed up with the gifted artist Nabi H. Ali to create Counting up the Olive Tree to help young readers practice counting numbers and learn the power of cooperation.

Golbarg Bashi was born in Iran, raised in Sweden, and educated in the UK and US. For over a decade, Dr. Bashi has designed and taught interdisciplinary courses on various aspects of medieval and modern history of west Asia, as well as Islamic art, critical methodologies in a wide range of disciplines. After a full-time career as an academic, she is now focused on diversifying children’s media and empowering children from underrepresented and marginalized countries and communities with positive, environmentally conscious, and fun stories that inform all the interconnectedness of world cultures. She lives with her family in New York.

Nabi H. Ali is a Tamil-American illustrator who enjoys creating diverse works that showcase an array of cultures and people. His interest in illustrative works started when he realized he could help create representation in the arts and in media for minorities, and he is very passionate about working with characters that he would have liked to see when he was a kid. He is the illustrator of several picture books, including Laxmi’s Mooch. His other illustrated picture books include Beautifully Me and We Move the World. Nabi lives in California.