Submitted by Ms. Tess!
Yaffa and Fatima: Shalom, Salaam by Jawzia Gilani-Williams, with pictures by Chiara Fedele, is the story of two friends who live on neighboring date farms. Yaffa is Jewish, and Fatima is Muslim. They do a lot of the same things, they just do them a little different. For instance, they both love to pray. Yaffa prays in the synagogue and Fatima prays in a mosque. They both celebrate holidays. Yaffa celebrates Yom Kippur and Passover, Fatima celebrates Ramadan, and Eid. And they both wish each other peace. Yaffa says “Shalom,” and Fatima says “Salaam.” One year, there was very little rain, and so there were very little dates to eat or sell at market. Yaffa can’t sleep at night wondering if Fatima has enough, so she loads up her donkey and carries a supply of dates over to her friend’s home. Meanwhile Fatima’s been lying awake at night wondering if Yaffa has enough, so she loads up her donkey and carries a supply of dates over to her home! In the morning they both wake up to find more dates than they thought they had, and plan to repeat the scheme that night, which they do, but this time they run into each other in the field between their farms. They hug and laugh, and thank the other for thinking of them! This is a lovely story that shows we can be friends with people from different backgrounds as us. We may find we’re actually very similar in all the areas that count, like kindness, thoughtfulness, and generosity. See this book listed in our catalog
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