4th-5th Grade

Banner Image: Fraction + Mother by David Najib Kassir

In April, Berkeley Unified School District celebrates Arab American & South West Asian North African (SWANA) Heritage Month, lifting up and honoring the contributions of Arab Americans and SWANA Americans in our school community.

These reading lists, organized by grade level, represent recently published books that are devoted to celebrating, representing, and affirming Arab American & SWANA American heritage, and celebrating their invaluable contributions to our community.

Arab Fairy Tale Feasts: A Literary Cookbookby Karim Alrawi
Genre: Fairy Tales/CookbookFormat: Picture Book

The Arabic Quilt: An Immigrant Storyby Aya Khalil
Genre: Realistic FictionFormat: Picture Book
Video available!

The Cat Man of Aleppoby Irene Latham and Karim Shamsi-Basha
Genre: BiographyFormat: Picture Book

Farah Rocks 5th Gradeby Susan Muaddi Darraj
Genre: Realistic FictionFormat: Chapter Book

Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestineby Hannah Moushabeck
Genre: Biography/NonfictionFormat: Picture Book

Mama in Congress: Rashida Tlaib's Journey to Washingtonby Rashida and Adam Tlaib
Genre: BiographyFormat: Picture Book
Audiobook available!

One Wish: Fatima Al-Fihri and the World's Oldest Universityby M.O. Yuksel
Genre: BiographyFormat: Picture Book

A Rover's Storyby Jasmine Warga
Genre: Science FictionFormat: Chapter Book
Audiobook available!

Other Words for Homeby Jasmine Warga
Genre: Realistic FictionFormat: Novel in Verse

Audiobook available!

Silverworldby Diana Abu-Jabar
Genre: FantasyFormat: Chapter Book

The Turtle of Michiganby Naomi Shihab Nye
Genre: Realistic FictionFormat: Chapter Book

Audiobook available!

When Stars Are Scatteredby Omar Mohamed and Victoria Jamieson
Genre: Fictionalized BiographyFormat; Graphic Novel

Audiobook available!

How do I read these books?

Many of these books are available through Berkeley school libraries as a physical and/or ebook. For more information about any of these books, or to check one of them out, ask your school librarian.

3-12 graders can find hundreds of great options on Sora. For Sora ebooks, you will be prompted to log in through Clever. More information on how to access Sora is available here.
TK-2 graders can find great ebooks and read-alouds through Tumblebooks or the Berkeley Public Library.
You will need a Berkeley Public Library card to order books through the Berkeley Public Library catalog. If you need a Berkeley Public Library card, click here.

For more information and instructions on accessing ebooks and audiobooks, visit our Digital Books page.

At a time when so many small businesses are struggling to keep their doors open, we also encourage folks to support our local bookstores:

Ashay by the Bay, Bandung Books, Eastwind Books, Marcus Books, Moe’s Books, Mr. Mopps, Books Inc., Pegasus Books and Mrs. Dalloways.