"Salaam; A Muslim American Boy's Story"

Brown, Tricia. Salaam; A Muslim American Boy's Story New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC, 2006.

Salaam is a non-fictional book that goes through the everyday life a boy names Imran. The story is contemporary and it shows how a Muslim American boy lives through black and white photographs that range from he and his best friend Trevor making a teacher at their school laugh to fasting for Ramadan. The simple text and black and white photographs make for a moving book that shows how life for a boy in post-9/11 America copes with the misconceptions people have about his and his families faith.

There is not much information available about either this book or its author. Before the story of Imran even begins Brown notifies the reader that this book has been in the works for three years, having met many road blocks along the way in the post -9/11 era.

I feel that it is important for works such as Salaam be read and published about Muslim Americans because peace comes from understanding not fear and once you have been introduced to Imran and his family it is very difficult to see them as an enemy. I think that it is interesting that Brown (author) and Cardwell (illustrator) chose to attempt a work like Salaam being from the outside position on what it is actually like to be a Muslim American boy, but as a non-fictional pictorial of a Muslim American boy this piece is valuable to have in any classroom when addressing diversity within our own nation.