Themes: Family Relationship: Parents, Religious Background: MuslimĬharacter’s New Arrival/New American Status: In Home Countryīook Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience Click here for details about how we define our titles.

The second-person narration ('you watch Mamas malafa flutter as she prays') presents the veil as desirable rather than confining and. Then together, they pray.Ĭommunity Represented: Mauritanian/Mauritanian American, Muslim/Muslim American Cunnane (Chirchir Is Singing) introduces a Mauritanian girl whos fascinated with the malafa, the veil the women in her family wear. Save up to 80 versus print by going digital with VitalSource. An Arab girl of the Sahara who wants to wear a malafa, the veiled dress worn by her mother and older sister, learns that the garment represents beauty, mystery, tradition, belonging, and faith Accelerated Reader LG 3.7 0. But it is not until Lalla realizes that a malafa is not just worn to show a woman’s beauty and mystery or to honor tradition for faith that Lalla’s mother agrees to slip a long cloth as blue as the ink in the Koran over Lalla’s head, under her arm, and round and round her body. Deep in the Sahara is written by Kelly Cunnane and published by Schwartz & Wade. Lalla lives in the Muslim country of Mauritania, and more than anything, she wants to wear a malafa, the colorful cloth Mauritanian women, like her mama and big sister, wear to cover their heads and clothes in public.

Deep in the Sahara by Kelly Cunnane