The Fine Arts Library does not typically collect children’s books, but to kick off Arab American Heritage Month, we wanted to feature this exception to the rule. Stories My Father Told Me is a touching and visually stunning collaboration between Arab-American artist Helen Zughaib and her father Elia about life in Syria and Lebanon in the 1930s and during World War II. Helen's father recounted absorbing tales of his childhood in Damascus, village life in Lebanon in the late 1930s, amusing relatives, happenings and traditions in their local Greek Orthodox Church, and major events in her father's early life that led him to immigrate to the United States in 1946. (Summarized from the publisher’s webpage.)
Helen’s vibrant paintings, inspired by her father’s stories are reproduced in glorious color on every other page, while the short and poignant stories add important context.