Fawzia Gilani-Williams

"In a Moroccan village, a Jewish boy, Jacob, and a Muslim boy, Hassan, are best friends who care for a beautiful garden. When war comes, and it's time for Jacob's family to leave, his friend promises to care for their garden"--

Two neighbors—one Jewish, one Muslim—have always been best friends. When they both fall on hard times, can they find a way to help each other? In Fawzia Gilani's retelling of this folktale—which has both Jewish and Arab origins—differences are not always causes for conflict and friendship can overcome any obstacle.

After Jewish fifth-grader Ava and her Muslim best friend Nadeem are called hateful names at school, Ava's Granny Buena rummages in her closet and pulls out a glittering crystal button box. It's packed with buttons that generations of Ava's Sephardic ancestors have cherished. With the help of Granny's mysterious cat Sheba, Ava and Nadeem discover that a button from the button box will take them back in time. Suddenly, they are in ancient Morocco, where...

While buying gifts for his family to wear to the mosque on Eid a shoemaker is persuaded to get new pants for himself, but the only pair available is too long and no one seems to have time to shorten them.

"When a woodcutter and his wife's baby daughter is taken away by a hard-hearted old women in payment for a few rapunzel leaves, they are heartbroken. Although the old woman is not cruel to the little girl, she does not want her parents to ever find her and names her Rapunzel after the rapunzel greens for which she was taken. In time, Rapunzel grows into a young lady with an inquisitive mind and a kind and generous heart but will she ever be re-united...