Dearest Banana Lover, I pray you receive this email in the best of health and imaan, insha Allah, and are reaping immense blessings in this beautiful month of Ramadan. I am honored to share that, I received blessed news this week. All Praise belongs to Allah for The Blessed Bananas received the International Book Awards Best Children's Religious book award! This is truly a huge honor, and I am so grateful for this recognition. Those of you that have seen my book know it is a

You may have wondered why I chose a monkey as my main character in "The Blessed Bananas." I still remember the night my dad came home from work and brought my sister and me our very first stuffed animal. He used to work in the city from morning to night. As immigrants, my family worked long hours to make ends meet. My younger sister and I were oblivious as kids to the reality of our financial situation. We didn't notice the lack of toys, books, new clothes or even food. What