Zena and Mena Started Girls of the Crescent To Bring Diverse Books To Local Libraries
When Zena (15) and Mena (14) were assigned a project in school to research someone they looked up to, they noticed something strange.
“We went into the library with the idea of getting books on Muslim women that were very big role-models to us. As it turned out, we could not find any books about female Muslims and knew that something needed to be done about it,” they said.
That’s when they decided to hold a book drive in their community to gather books with female Muslim main characters to donate to local libraries because they believe it’s important for kids to see themselves in stories.
“Books have an immense impact on how children behave, socialize, and see themselves in the world,” they told Smart Girls. “That’s why having good characters as role models that children can connect with is important. When children see characters like themselves portrayed positively in books they feel a sense of acceptance and belonging.”
Zena and Mena created an organization called Girls of the Crescent “to make sure that children like us will be able to read books with characters like themselves and to increase diversity in literature.” Girls of the Crescent collects donations of books with Muslim characters and then gifts them to libraries and schools around the United States.
They also hope that through Girls of the Crescent, they can counteract negative ideas they’ve seen perpetuated about Islam and Muslims.
“In this world where Islamophobia is becoming a bigger issue and people are having negative ideas of Islam, we decided that starting Girls of the Crescent would promote and spread a positive message about Muslims.”
“Reading books with female Muslim characters helps us personally connect to characters like us and makes us feel represented.” — Zena and Mena Nasiri
If you want to help increase the number of diverse books in your community? Zena and Mena say you can contact Girls of the Crescent for help distributing books in your community and/or ask your local librarians to order diverse books for your library. If you’re looking for suggestions, here are a few recommendations from Zena and Mena.
“Great books for young kids are Yo Soy Muslim, Crescent Moons, and Pointed Minarets. Great books for teens and older kids are The Lines We Cross, Under the Persimmon Tree, and A Thousand Splendid Suns.”
Thank you for your work, Zena and Mena! Find out more about how you can support Girls of the Crescent on their website. You can also follow them on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
Check out the #MissionMuslimPreorder campaign here:
