Greetings,
A love of reading is one of the best predictors of academic success. At the Holy Child Program we have been building a
library of books that the children enjoy reading and/or listening to as a way of building that love. In contrast to the US, where high quality children’s books are available in any bookstore or library, the West Bank of Palestine does not have the same resources. We are doing what we can to change that.
One of our great finds over the past three years has been Al Salwa Publishers in Amman, Jordan https://alsalwabooks.com/en/. They publish Arabic books for children and young adults that span the whole range of children’s literature; illustrated books with no words, illustrated books with an accompanying story, short chapter books with illustrations, and longer chapter books for young adults. All of Al Salwa’s books are of very high quality; bright, colorful illustrations, excellent and clear printing, fine paper stock, sturdy covers, and beautiful end papers.
When we brought the first set of Al Salwa books to HCP, the response was immediate and overwhelmingly positive. One of HCP’s students, on being presented with an Al Salwa book asked, “Should I wear gloves?” He knew just how precious that book was to him and wanted to preserve that for others. In late November 2022, we were able to visit Al Salwa books again. We were honored to be able to meet with Taghreed Najjar, the founder of Al Salwa, and Isaac Abuzir, an account manager for them. We came to the meeting prepared with a list of books we had already purchase and a list of books our Arabic teacher, Shorooq, put together after scanning their website for current offerings. Once again, we walked away with 20+ books to continue building HCP’s library.
Thank you from all of us at the Holy Child Program!
