Muslims in Story Expanding Multicultural Understanding through Children's and Young Adult Literature

"Islamophobia is a long standing, deeply entrenched global issue. Targeting the Muslim community was a key part of the Republican agenda in the 2016 U.S. presidential elections and since the Donald Trump's election, this fear of Islam and Muslims is translating into policy as well. Islamophobia disrupts civil society at many levels, from anti Muslim policies such as the travel ban, to heightened tensions and hate crimes across the country, including the increased bullying of Muslim children. One of the key causes of Islamophobia is ignorance, often fueled by negative portrayals of Muslims in media and popular culture. Counter Islamophobia through Stories is a timely and proactive approach to tackling this issue, by engendering friendships and empathy through literature. Our goal is to facilitate a systemic long term change in understanding the diversity of the Muslim experience and to build bridges of understanding and empathy. Exposing children in their formative years to positive stories about Muslims can go a long way to creating a multicultural understanding, and cementing ideas of tolerance, respect and acceptance. Books also help achieve visual diversity by showcasing different foods, dress and traditions. The proposed book will equip librarians toexpose all children to Muslim children's books around different themes"--

Gauri Manglik is the CEO and founder of KitaabWorld, a literary organization that spreads awareness about South Asian children s literature in the United States. As a first-generation immigrant mother raising her two boys in California, she felt strongly about advocating for increased diversity in children s literature in schools and libraries. Prior to founding KitaabWorld, Manglik practiced law for more than twelve years and advised a number of start-ups as they disrupted conventional ways of doing things. Inspired by their innovative thinking, Manglik followed her own passion to disrupt the world of children s literature and bring marginalized voices to the table. She has written numerous articles and research papers in various journals including Tax Notes International and Teaching Tolerance.

Sadaf Siddique is cofounder and chief creative officer at KitaabWorld. Her background in journalism and her work in print, documentaries, and online media in India and the United States has focused on innovative ideas for social change. She was part of the research and editorial team on social impact-investing at Omidyar Network. She led editorial strategy at Link TV's Dear American Voter, an interactive project on global perspectives on the 2008 U.S. election. Siddique also has experience in managing content acquisitions as editorial manager for Imagining Ourselves, an award-winning, multilingual and multimedia online exhibit, and she was part of the team at Devi Pictures that produced female-oriented films such as Unlimited Girls. Her writings have appeared in Hyphen Magazine, San Francisco Bay Guardian, Dawn, The Hindu, Indian Express, and the Times of India.