ArabiKids keeps Arab American families connected to culture
ArabiKids helps families stay connected to Arabic by bringing the best in Arabic kids’ books and resources from around the world to their doorstep
For Arab-American families, connecting their children with Arabic language and culture is not always easy. With ArabiKids, two Arab-American moms have found a way to bring high quality, engaging Arabic resources home to families across the US.
Although families who wish to pass along the Arabic language and traditions to their kids can run into many obstacles along the way, such as lack of time, motivation, and resources, one tool can be a valuable source of learning: Arabic books!
However, for two Arab-American mothers who were looking for quality Arabic books for their kids, the choices were limited and not always of the best quality. So the two friends, an engineer from MIT and a media producer, decided to launch a service that provides families with access to top-quality Arabic children books & resources for their kids to help keep Arabic alive at home.
“The problem is not that good quality, interesting Arabic children books don’t exist,” says Rafa Saab, one of the founders. “The problem is in finding them and making them easily available to families here.”
Through a monthly subscription service, for which families can sign up on the company’s website (www.arabikids.com), ArabiKids will send members a box of culturally relevant, curated Arabic kids’ books each month, along with other little surprises appropriate to the child’s age. Membership, which starts at $20 a month, renews automatically and can be canceled at any time.
Arabikids is a great way to keep families in touch with the Arabic language, or for anyone who wants an entertaining way to learn the language. These books not only provide a way to learn Arabic, but also gives kids a positive experience of Arabic culture. “We send books about ‘love,’ ‘compassion,’ ‘dreams,’ and ‘diversity,’” Saab says. “We hope to make these kids feel good about themselves and their culture so they grow up as confident children and adults, comfortable with who they are in their American society.”
For more information, go to www.arabikids.com.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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