Great Banned-Books Bake Sale, The

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ILA 2024 Social Justice Literature Award, Fiction Picturebook Winner

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Kanzi, the immigrant girl of Aya Khalil and Anait Semirdzhyan’s bestselling picture book The Arabic Quilt, has come to feel welcome in her American school—that is, until an entire shelf of books about immigrant kids and kids of color suddenly disappears from the school library. Upon learning that books with kids who look like her have been banned by her school district, Kanzi is overcome by confusion and fear.

But her classmates support her, and together— with their teacher’s help—they hatch a plan to hold a bake sale and use the proceeds to buy diverse books for libraries. The event is a big success; the entire school participates, and the local TV station covers it in the evening news. Prodded by her classmates to read the poem she has written, Kanzi starts softly but finds her voice. “You have banned important books, but you can’t ban my words,” she reads. “Books are for everyone.” The crowd chants, “No banned books! No banned books!” and the next week, the ban is reversed.

The backmatter includes a recipe for baklawa, the Egyptian pastry that Kanzi prepares for the bake sale.
Aya Khalil is a freelance journalist and blogger who has taught at all levels from preschool to college. her first book, The Arabic Quilt is based on events from her childhood, when she immigrated to the U.S. from Egypt with her parents and siblings. She lives in Toledo, Ohio, with her husband, Abdalrahman, and their two children.

Anait Semirdzhyan grew up in a multicultural family and lived in several countries with diverse cultures before settling in the Seattle area with her husband and twin daughters. Her illustrations begin as pencil sketches on cold-press watercolor paper. She then inks the outlines, paints with watercolors, and scans the illustrations in order to edit them in Photoshop. She is the illustrator of The Arabic Quilt and other works that can be viewed at www.anaitsart.com.
"The book takes on an all-too-relevant topic—indeed, the author’s note discusses how this tale was inspired by a real-life attempt at banning The Arabic Quilt in 2021." ― Kirkus Reviews

"It's a motivating title whose concluding triumph underlines the idea that “our voices are important!” An author’s note and recipe conclude." ― Publishers Weekly

"The Great Banned-Books Bake Sale deserves as wide a readership as possible and should be a part of every elementary school and community library picture book collections for young readers ages 7-10." ― Midwest Book Review, Children's Bookwatch