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Today is Asha’s first day of school in her new country. Everything seems so different. She can’t even understand what the teacher is saying! But with a little help from her classmates, Asha soon learns that things in her new school might not be so different from back home after all.
Vancouver Sun Interview
After a long and thorough search, after Shaista Kaba Fatehali had exhausted every avenue in her quest for stories that Muslim immigrant children could relate to, the kindergarten teacher and …
Author Biography
Shaista Kaba Fatehali is a Canadian Ismaili Muslim, a kindergarten teacher, and the founder of THRIVE KIDS!, an organization that helps children discover their inner strengths, their identity, and their sense of purpose. She is currently completing her PhD in early childhood education, and lives with her husband and daughter in Burnaby, British Columbia. You can visit THRIVE KIDS! at https://thrivekidsbc.ca.
Illustrator Biography
Michelle Simpson is a professional illustrator based out of the Niagara Region of Canada. Michelle graduated with a BAA in illustration from Sheridan College, and now works as a freelance illustrator.
Michelle has worked on concept artwork and final backgrounds for season two of the children’s TV show Ollie: The Boy Who Became What He Ate. She also worked on season one of Tee and Mo. Although she takes on many different projects, Michelle’s passion is children’s book illustration
Testimonials
“Shaista cleverly lays out what we see in today’s society of families from the East settling in the West. Through the lens of a Muslim child named Asha, we see the challenges she faces as a newcomer, but realize that we are truly all the same. This book, Back Home, enables us to see that there is a higher level of awareness about how we are truly connected. The message behind Back Home is that peace is everywhere, and can be found within oneself.”
The Honourable Mobina S.B. Jaffer, Q.C.Senator for British Columbia
“. . . a wonderfully written and illustrated tale about a little girl’s first day at school in her new country, when all goes from being strange to the realization that people are people (and children are children) everywhere on the planet, that more similarities than differences exist between cultures.”
The Vancouver Sun
“[Back Home] tells the story of a young Muslim girl named Asha who was forced to flee her Middle Eastern home with her family and build a new life in a Western country. The story chronicles Asha’s everyday experiences adapting to a new life and culture – and her discovery that the values of her faith are the same values her new friends share.”
Burnaby Now
“[This] new children’s book tells the story of a young newcomer and is helping to teach the important lessons that despite our different religions and ethnicities, we are all the same . . . Parents who read this to their kids will also learn that lesson . . . Beautifully done.”
CTV News Vancouver
“Shaista Kaba Fatehali does an impressive job at capturing the difficulty that young children face when leaving a home they have known all their lives as they settle in new, different, and at times foreign places. Through Asha, the little heroine of Back Home, we see the encounter between the familiar and the unfamiliar. While Asha reminisces on her life back home, she embodies and exemplifies the spirit of adventure, possibility, and openness that young children are so well known for. As she recounts experiences of her old life, she also finds that values such as kindness, friendship, and patience are also shared by the new friends she meets in her classroom. Back Home is very much the story of coming home. We see through Asha not only the difficulty of settling in a new place, making new friends, adjusting ourselves to new surroundings, but also the possibilities that emerge when an open heart and an open mind come into contact with others who also share similar dispositions.
This book is great reading material for any child experiencing the difficulties that come with displacement as it exemplifies the opportunities that emerge when we see our universal humanity across lines of difference. It is also important material for young children living in places where immigration and migration are increasing in pace as it will allow them to understand how this diversity also brings about new opportunities to learn more about who we are by learning more about others.”
Book review by Alim Fakirani, CCRL Subject Matter Expert
9 x 8.75 – 36 Pages – $ 29.95 Full Colour Hardback
