book reviews for preschoolers and young readers
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The Voice of Hena Khan: Navigating Culture Through Stories

Hena Khan, Pakistani, Islam, Muslim, children's literature, picture books, mg novels, graphic novels, culture
I just completed one of my favorite interviews so far, with Hena Khan. She is a Pakistani American children’s author, writing in almost every children’s book format imaginable including—picture books, chapter books, choose your own adventure books, middle grade novels, graphic novels, anthologies, and even a 365-writing prompt Islamic diary. All of her work is fantastic, and I couldn’t help but read it all thoroughly rather than skim it all. Sometimes, an interview just flows. I felt like this was one of those times. She said it all when she expressed wanting to “provide something for everyone when they visit the library.”

Hena started writing as a child, although she didn’t think of herself as a writer then. She then wrote as a public health professional as an adult. She didn’t realize until she had a child of her own and wrote different types of series for Scholastic Book Clubs, that she would be able to make a career out of writing for kids. Although she learned a lot and enjoyed her time at Scholastic, she really wanted to write books that represented herself and her community. And that is what she has done through the continuation of her writing career. Middle grade and books for young kids spoke to her when she was a child, so she wanted to focus on them as an author.

I’m embarrassed to say I knew almost nothing about Pakistani and Muslim communities before reading Hena’s work. Since then, I’ve realized that I’ve just scratched the surface of a beautiful culture with amazing food (although there’s a Pakistani stand at my favorite farmer’s market, so I’m familiar with the mouth-watering food), literature, prayers, family and community togetherness and ideas. Throughout her work, Hena is gifted at introducing her culture to kids at age-appropriate levels with lots of humor and spunk. As a sports fan in a family of athletic fans and players, Hena includes many athletic characters in her books.
In her writing, she works really hard to have even shy and intimidated characters have agency. In fact, she learned the hard way in her first middle grade novel that pre-teens need to have agency in their own life in order for other potential kids as an audience to cheer them on.
When asked about her writing experiences, she said that she enjoys writing chapter series like the Zayd and Zara series the most because they very much reflect her real-life experiences, and she can most easily write about her family and community. She is also enjoying a format new to her, the graphic novel. She finds picture books the most challenging with the difficulty in having so few words to mess up with.
 
 
Hena Khan, Elisabeth Paige, Children's literature, kidslit, picture books, islamic culture, Pakistani, Muslim
Her first books were picture books, the most well known being It’s Ramadan, Curious George and Under the Hijab. They are absolutely adorable and provide an age-appropriate understanding of Pakistani and Muslim culture.
She has written two series that are woven together, the Zayd and the Zara books. Even in the Zayd books that are sports focused books for younger readers, there is a lot of culture, friendship and emotion woven in. The Zara books have particularly spunky female protagonists.
In Drawing Deena, Hena is really able to normalize and validate teens and preteens having mental health difficulties, especially anxiety. She also introduces financial insecurities. Deena is coping with her parents’ bickering over financial complexities and it literally goes right to her stomach. Hena writes about role models for parents and kids seeking help and validation that Hena thinks are particularly important in immigrant communities.

Critical Hena’s life and therefore in her books are mentors. Although she didn’t find them until later in her career, she finds others in her artistic community provide joy and support and she wanted to have the young people in her novels find this earlier in their lives.
hena khan, anxiety, middle grade novel, islam, hindu, pakistani
hena khan, Elisabeth Paige, hijab, muslim, pakistani, basketball, graphic novel, middle grade novel
In her first graphic novel, We Are Big Time, based on a true story, the hijab wearing basketball team gains a lot of attention as they improve dramatically with a new coach. But, all they really want is to play good basketball.
 
Pakistani, Hena Khan, Middle grade novel, kidslit, Islamic, Muslim,

She wrote a two-book series, the Amina series, so that she could include music as a way to show the diversity and range of perspectives of the two billion Muslims alive today. 

She also used these books to show her characters having to cope with the challenges of having both Pakistani and American identities, which is often the case of children of immigrants. However, she makes sure that her characters are unapologetic and not self-loathing around their identities or their parents’ immigration statuses. In this way she lifts up the kids who share her background and encourages their friends to think that their background is cool.

Behind My Doors is the story of the oldest library from the perspective of this Islamic library, demonstrating the importance of reading and literacy for young people in a fun and culturally informative way. This is especially important given the difficulties that libraries are currently having.
Hena Khan, Libraries, Hindu, Islam, Muslim, Pakistani, Children's literature, kidslit
Editing The Door is Open reinforced for her, her love for developmental editing and mentoring other writers. Although stand-alone short stories, they are all interlinked and are centered around a Southeast Asian community center. The authors range from award-winning and best-selling authors to authors who are just beginning to get their work published.

She and her colleague Tarek Elgawhary compiled Islamic quotes and writing prompts for The Daily Contemplations Journal in order to show the beauty and universality of Islam (I have to say, I have a lot of experience with writing prompt journals, and this is the best I’ve seen). They provide writing prompts from the Quaran, quotes from poets, mystics and scholars, and the Hadith among others. Themes include self-reflection, controlling your tongue, role of nature in your life, forgiveness, gratitude, etc.

 Hena has a lot of work on the front burner from new books in the Zayd series, to a graphic novel, to a picture book.
When asked what she would tell her 10-year-old self she said she would tell her, that if she has a story to tell, tell it and that she is a writer if she writes.

She would tell budding writers that they just need to put in the work and write.

I thoroughly enjoyed this conversation with Hena and hope you find her as interesting, informative and fun as I did.

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