Dar AlSalwa Story about a Boy Named Fayez

Many times children are made fun of or bullied by other children. The reasons for this phenomena may vary but part of it is that the child in question may be physically different, too fat, too thin, too short...etc or may have certain character traits that set him/her apart. Fayez was a dreamer who never paid attention in class and seemed happy living in his own world. By sheer accident Fayez discovers his hidden artistic talents and gets a chance to have the spotlight on him and on his work. This changes the perception of his classmates and teachers toward him. “A Story about a Boy Named Fayez” is a story about success and discovering ones abilities. The story unfolds with a mixture of reality and fantasy.

Taghreed Najjar is a pioneer of modern children's literature in Jordan. A graduate of the American University of Beirut,Taghreed started her career as a teacher before becoming a full time writer of picture books and young adult novels. Her YA novels have been celebrated widely by her readers and various schools in the region have adopted them as part of their curriculum. A number of her books have won awards while others have been translated into foreign languages like English, Swedish, Turkish, French and Chinese.  

One of her most critically acclaimed works is a series of ten picture books revolving around six-year old Jude and her family and friends.'The Halazone Series', deals with everyday childhood issues which are treated with humor and deftness by the author. One of Taghreed’s pet projects was collecting old Arabic children rhymes and publishing them in book and digital form to make them accessible to the modern child and family of today. She published two collections of rhymes, the latest entitled 'Musical Tickles' was selected by the National Centre for Children's Literature (a service of the French National Library) as one of the best publications in the Arab World in 2012/2013.

Taghreed is a member of the Jordanian Writer’s Association and takes part in international and regional conferences and workshops that deal with children literature.

When I was a kid I used to love drawing. My hair was curly so I used to think I wasn’t pretty. It took me a long time to finish the chores my mom asked me to do, so I thought I wasn’t good at anything, but everyone believed in my drawing abilities. I loved creating beautiful shapes from my surroundings. I even made hand-made gifts to my friends, and enjoyed watching their astonishment at my abilities. In addition to my drawing hobby, I enjoyed acting and taking on different characters. We used to act out many stories that we wrote ourselves in the school playground. My mom says I used to recite many of the events as if they were true, don’t tell my mom that I still think they are real. When I grew up I studied Fine Arts and worked in animation. Later I freed myself to illustrate stories for children. Drawing is really fun, don’t believe anyone that says you can't draw.