Eleven Words for Love: A Journey Through Arabic Expressions of Love - Hardcover

by Randa Abdel-Fattah (Author), Maxine Beneba Clarke (Illustrator)

A lyrical narrative of a Palestinian family in exile explores universal bonds of family, loyalty, and friendship through the lens of eleven Arabic expressions for love.

A family has fled their homeland in search of safety in another country, carrying a single suitcase. As their journey unfolds, the oldest child reflects on the special contents of that suitcase: photo albums that evoke eleven of many names for love in Arabic. From sunshine-warm friendship to the love that dissolves all tears; from the love that makes you swoon to the love that leaves you yearning for the heart's homeland--her family has experienced it all. Illustrated in vibrant watercolor pencil and collage on textured card stock, this moving scrapbook shows a family embracing an unknown future even as they honor the past, casting immigration and the refugee experience in the light of universal human connection.

Author Biography

Randa Abdel-Fattah is a Palestinian-Egyptian-Muslim writer, academic, former lawyer, and the multi-award-winning author of eleven books published in more than twenty countries, including the novel Does My Head Look Big in This? and a graphic novel series. She has been nominated twice for the Astrid Lindgren Award. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

Maxine Beneba Clarke is an Australian poet and writer of Afro-Caribbean descent. She is the author of five books for children, including The Patchwork Bike, a Boston Globe-Horn Book Award winner and Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year, and the author-illustrator of the critically acclaimed picture book When We Say Black Lives Matter and Fashionista.