 Welcome everyone and Ramadan Kareem or Ramadan Mubarak. I'm so excited to be here with you. This is my first time sharing my book with a Ramadan audience and what I love about Ramadan, there's so many things that I love, but connecting with other people is one of my favorite things about Ramadan. And what I really love is creating a sense of community. And I wanted to say thank you to Shoulder to Shoulder for helping bring this community together. So big hugs to everyone for being here. It makes me so happy. So Ramadan is a time when as many of you might know, people will not drink or not eat during the day and then at sunset, they get together and then they break a meal. They break their fast and they share a meal. And for me, one of the things that I learn about that, learn from that is a sense of patience because it's not always easy waiting all day until the sun sets to drink that cup of water or have that piece of chocolate that I've been craving all day. So patience is one of those big things that I get out of Ramadan. But also what I love is how when you break your fast at the end of the day, you get to do it with all kinds of people. So when I used to live in Egypt, one of the things that I would see on the street is they would have these big tents just out on the street and everybody was welcome into the tent. You didn't just share your food or your drinks with friends and neighbors, you shared it with strangers. So all kinds of people from every walk of life would come in and they'd get into this tent together and share dates and share special drinks. And it reminds me of what joy we can feel in our hearts when we share with other people. And when we create a space that's welcoming to everybody. And sometimes, I do get a little anxious or worried and I think, oh my gosh, are there enough samosas? Is there enough cake? Is there enough Ruwavza, which is one of my favorite Ramadan drinks? But Ramadan also reminds me that there's always enough for everyone and that there's this idea of baraka, which is blessings that come all throughout the year. But we're especially reminded during Ramadan that there's always enough for everybody. And we feel that feeling of enoughness when we share it as well. So with those ideas of this idea of patience and sharing and community and welcoming everyone to the table, I thought I would share a book that I recently wrote that's also about sharing and community and patience. And it's not welcoming everyone to the table, but it's welcoming everyone into a bus. And it's a very special bus. It's called the Dala Dala. And this book was inspired by a trip that I took to Zanzibar, which is a Muslim island in the country of Tanzania. And you'll see how with the characters in the book, they get a little bit nervous because they don't think there's enough room for everyone, but you'll see how they wiggle and giggle and make enough room. So if you hear the words wiggle, please feel free to wiggle along and you'll get to be a part of the book. All right, so are we ready to listen a little bit? Okay, so one thing that I like to do before I read a story is sometimes I have the wiggles inside of me, so I like to get it out first. So if you wanna get the wiggles out, we'll do it together. So wiggle your hands and your shoulders and your head and then your whole body. Get all your wiggles out. Awesome. And I think we are ready to do some reading. I will share my screen. And here we go. Can you all see? Can you give me a thumbs up if you can see? All right, so room for everyone. Written by Naz Khan, that's me and illustrations by Mersey Lopez. And as you can see, a brother and sister are getting on the Dala Dala. The Dala Dala rumbled and roared and Musa and Dada were off to the shore to feast on fish at the Friday Bazaar by the blue crystal waters of Zanzibar. Soon after zooming past Zulekha Street, they saw one old man and his bike with no seat. So the driver honked, pulled to the side and asked, your brother, do you need a ride? It's hotter than peppers out there in the sun. Come in, there's room for everyone. But Dada said, Musa, I don't think there is enough room for that man and that cycle of his. Don't worry, Musa, there's space galore. If you move just a bit, we can make room for more. So in came the man with his sweaty old feet and his bike with no bell and no light and no seat. And after some wiggles and giggles and fun, they made enough room for everyone. Next, they passed the bugle up boats and a herder appeared with two little goats. So the Dala Dala pulled to the side and the driver yelled, do you need a ride? It's hotter than peppers out there in the sun. Come in, there's room for everyone. But Dada asked, Musa, can there really be enough room for a cycle, two goats and me? Of course there is, if we squeeze a bit, we can make enough room for us all to fit. And though the seating arrangement was tight, Musa could see that Dada was right. After a shuffle, a squirm and a squeeze, they found a small space beside Dada's knees. And though the Dala Dala was packed from top to bottom and front to back, Musa yelled out, come join the fun. We'll make enough room for everyone. So the swimmer with snorkels and tubes and fins wiggled and giggled and wriggled right in. Look at all those people and all their things. The tires were reeling and spinning and burning the passengers sweating and twisting and turning. Elbow to shoulder, beak to nose, feathers to feet, udders to toes. What a sight to see, what a comical crew stuck together like globity glue. They clunkety-clunked, like junk in a trunk, so close to a breakdown curve, plunkety-plunk. When suddenly all of them heard a screech. Alhamdulillah, they arrived at the beach. Out came 10 swimmers with snorkels and fins who ran to the ocean and dove right on in. Out came nine coconuts, fresh and tender, and out came the whistling coconut vendor. Out came the eight sticky sweet sugar canes with seven umbrellas for sunshine and rain, six stinky chickens and five piles of fish, four heavy pails full of milk so delish, three big old baskets of fruit for a treat, two little goats and one bike with no seat. At last, at last they had finally reached the blue crystal waters of Nungui Beach where Musa and Dada and everyone could wiggle and giggle under the sun. Yay! Well, thanks for being such great listeners, everybody. Yay, round of applause for Naz. And now let's welcome Hena Khan. Thank you, that was such a beautiful story. I love it so much. Congratulations to you and what fun. I'm so excited to be here with all of you, Ramadhan Mabarg to everyone who's observing. And I thought I would share a few images from some of my picture books that share some of the things that I love about Ramadhan. And then I have a special new book to share with you. I'm gonna share my screen with you real quick and show you. So I've tried to write about Ramadhan actually in many of my books. The very first book that I ever wrote, Night of the Moon, which came out a long time ago, is all about the month of Ramadhan. And then I went on to write these picture books that all have some mention of Ramadhan in them. So I thought I'd show you some of the pictures from all of these books. Of course, as Naz mentioned, and as Meena started us off with, fasting is a big part of Ramadhan. So that's something I include in my book as well as watching the moon to know that Ramadhan is beginning since it is a month in the lunar calendar. And the early morning meal that we have at sunrise, we call Sohoor. And so these are some delicious figs that's that saving for Sohoor. I had some oatmeal this morning and I didn't have any delicious figs. And at the end of the day, when it's when the sun is setting and it's time to break fast, we enjoy some delicious dates. It's tradition to eat yummy dates like these, which I just want to reach in and grab one right now. And the meal that we have at sunset time is called Iftar, a time for family and togetherness and enjoying special food sometimes that we save especially for Ramadhan. Lots of families have different Ramadhan traditions. And it is a time for sharing, as Naz mentioned, for being with friends and family like we are right now, and people of all backgrounds coming together to enjoy Iftar. And here we see Curious George and the man with the yellow hat breaking fast with their Muslim friends. And some of the other traditions that are really important during Ramadhan are things around learning, right? Since the Ramadhan is the month when the Quran was first revealed to us, it's important to study and learn the Quran like you see this little girl doing here with her grandma. And here on this page, we see an actual page of the Quran and Asura, a verse chapter of the Quran that a boy is memorizing. It's also important during Ramadhan to give in charity and to share with others who may need things. And so here we see a collection of toys and gifts of sadaka and of course zakat, which all Muslims are required to give a portion of what they have to people who might eat it. And a lot of people give their zakat during Ramadhan and on Eid to spread extra blessings. And here is one of my favorite pictures from Night of the Moon, which is when the family is going to the mosque for nightly prayers, but also taking along some cupcakes to share with everyone. So lots of community and sharing and togetherness during Ramadhan are things that I wanted to emphasize and share with you here. But I know I'm talking about the theme of belonging and welcoming each other. And that is something that I also write about in chapter books. And Amina's Song is a sequel to a book I wrote called Amina's Voice, where a lot of the theme of the book is belonging and where we fit in the world and how we make room for all the people we love and all the places we love in our heart and get people to understand all those pieces of us and who we really are inside. And I also have a brand new series that's about to launch next week. So next Tuesday, this book will be born. I'm having what we call a book birthday, which is when a book is launched into the world. And this is the first book in a brand new series called Zara's Rules. And the first book is called Zara's Rules for Record Breaking Fun. So I thought I'd give you a sneak peek into this book, which also talks about welcoming and belonging. And a lot of the story is set around, actually the whole series, a lot of it is set around Zara's neighborhood and her friendships and her community. And a lot of it is based on the neighborhood that I grew up in, which is actually not far from where I live right now. And the friendships that I made, including very special friends who moved in across the street from me when I was growing up, a Jewish family who I dedicated this book to and who I'm still very, very close to. So the fictional family in this book, named the Goldsteins, is inspired by my dear friends and my friend, Naomi, who I grew up with. And the girl in this book is also named Naomi, who becomes one of Zara's special friends. But this is the beginning of the book when Zara and her neighborhood friends realized that a new family of moving into the neighborhood and they've just spotted the moving truck and they've seen the kids get out of the moving truck and go into their new home. And they're a bit sad that the neighbor that they've loved for so long, Mr. Chapman, who always had the best lemonade and was always telling funny jokes and hanging out with the kids, he was moving away. And so there were little, Zara's a bit nervous about who these new neighbors are. So I'm gonna read a bit of chapter three to you. And other characters in this chapter are Zara's grandparents, Nano and Nanabu, her parents and her younger brother, Zade, who if you've ever read my Zade Celine series, it's the same family and the same brother. The new people are moving in, I tell Mama and Nano as I burst into the kitchen. They are sitting at the table together drinking chai, same ones from yesterday. We saw them from the window, Mama says, and they have kids after all. Too bad Chapman left. He was a good man, Nano shakes her head, sadly. A very kind chap, Nanabu adds from the sofa, then he chuckles at his own joke. My grandparents used to say hello to Mr. Chapman whenever they visited us. Sometimes Nanabu went on walks with him and sat with him on his porch. When Mr. Chapman left, Nano packed him a cooler of piratas and kebabs in case he couldn't find any in Florida. We should take something over to the new neighbors to welcome them, Mama suggests. Samosas, Nano says, I can fry some right now. How about cookies, I ask. Everybody likes cookies. Nano wringles her nose. Cookies, shookies. They can buy cookies from the store, but not my homemade samosas. I want cookies, Zade says. Come here, Nano waves Zade over to her and he crawls onto her lap. Tell me, what does my skinny mouse want? You need some meat on these bones. I will make you whatever you like, Nano offers. Cookies, Zade repeats. Now that Nano wants them. Nano, now that Zade wants them, sorry. Nano takes the suggestion seriously. Maybe I can make Nanakai, special Pakistani cookies. Then you can take some to the neighbors too. Mama brightens. Ooh, you haven't made Nanakai in years. If anything, my Zade wants Nanakus. Zade's so skinny, his arms are like toothpicks and everyone is obsessed with feeding him, but no one else as much as our grandmother and Zade eats it up, the attention that is. When it comes to food, there's only a few types that he'll eat happily. Plain rice, plain pasta, plain prata, plain pizza, chicken nuggets, Captain Crunch and cookies. And then the family goes on to make the cookies and I'm gonna skip ahead to when they're done. Mama arranges the Nanakai on a plate, covers them with foil and hands the plate to me. Do you wanna take these over, she asks? My stomach flip-flops a little at the idea of knocking on the new people's door, but I grabbed the plate anyway. They should probably know who I am. Zada thinks she's the queen of the neighborhood since that's what Mr. Chapman used to call her. I hold up my head and march out of the house and across the driveway, ignoring the urge to run back home. When I get to the door, someone opens it before I even knock. It's the woman. Well, hello, the woman's lips stretch into a toothy smile. You must be our neighbor, come on in. What is this? Is this for us? How lovely, thank you so much. She doesn't stop talking as she takes the plate from my hand and ushers me into the house. I stand in the entryway, unsure what to do next. Should I take off my shoes, I ask? Thinking about what I would do in my own house. If you'd like, make yourself at home. Don't mind all the boxes the woman says laughing. It's gonna take us a while to unpack. Where are the Goldsteins? Where do you live, sweetheart? Naomi, Michael, come say hello to our new neighbor. I point to our house across the street while Mrs. Goldstein puts the cookies down on the kitchen counter. Naomi peeks her head up from the hallway upstairs and then she slinks down the stairs. Hi, she says, what's your name? Zara, how old are you? Naomi circles me, staring at me intently. 10 and three quarters, what about you? I just turned 10. Oh, how wonderful Mrs. Goldstein yells from the kitchen. You're the same age. Where do you go to school, Zara? Brisk River Elementary School. Naomi and Michael will be going to the Jewish J School, but I'm sure you'll have lots of fun in the neighborhood, Mrs. Goldstein replies. Naomi nods, like she's deciding what to think about that. Who are those other kids, Naomi asks, which means she saw the rest of the gang when we were hiding. Melvin Fu was a cute little one with the spiky hair. Alan Goodman is the other boy. He plays all sports and has three cats. Jade Thomas and Gloria Thomas are sisters. Jade is older, but they act like twins, except Jade is into fashion and making stuff and Gloria loves reading and biking. Oh, and then there's Jade Celine, my little brother. That's a lot of kids, Naomi says, and then falls silent. I guess I say slipping my shoes back on. Well, see you later. I hope you like the cookies. As I leave, I hear Mrs. Goldstein whisper, see, I told you there'd be nice people living here. You're going to be fine. And then it hits me. Maybe the new people are as nervous about all of them, all of us, as we are about them. And that's the end of chapter three, and you'll have to read on if you want to know what Zara does to welcome her neighbor further and how she concocts this kind of nutty plan to make sure she stays queen of the neighborhood by breaking a Guinness World Record. But the theme of friendship and family and community and belonging is really something that is important to me and something I try to write about in all of my books. And I do love the chance to explore different characters and how they make connections and form these bonds. And I hope that my readers will connect to my stories and feel like they're a part of the action and a part of these characters and their lives and hopefully learn from each other. And just like the goals of shoulder to shoulder to see how much we all really do have in common with each other, even as we share our different traditions and our different backgrounds and cultures and faith tradition. So thank you for inviting me here today. Yay! Round of applause for Hena. Thank you. Round of applause for both of us, Hena. Thank you so much for sharing.