…is one of the numerous children’s books out by Muslim Canadian author, Rukhsana Khan. She is a member of The Writers Union of Canada, CANSCAIP (Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators, and Performers), Storytellers of Canada, and the Storytelling School of Toronto. She has authored several children’s books — some of them might make good gift ideas for younger siblings/cousins.
Her book, *Dahling, if you luv me would you please, please smile* won the Manitoba Young Reader’s Choice Honour Award, and was shortlisted for the 2000 Red Maple Award as well as the 2000 Ruth Schwartz Award.
One of her other books is The Roses in my carpets, regarding an Afghan boy, who lives in a refugee camp, helping his mother and sister to survive by working as an apprentice carpet weaver. It’s based upon the life of an Afghan refugee boy whom she actually met. Some reviews on this book follow.
"Toronto author Rukhsana Khan’s book, The Roses In My Carpets, is filled with horror and honesty, humanity and heart…Khan has written about this fatherless boy with heartbreaking realism. She knows the young boy’s story personally. She has met him and his family. He is her sponsored child. Her simple yet painfully detailed text will let your listeners know this boy’s life through the bucket handle that cuts into his hand, the rough mats that rub his ankles raw and his nightmares of enemy jets screaming overhead. The author will guide them through his day - a day where he must struggle to help his mother and sister survive while keeping a vision in his heart of a better future…This inspiring young boy’s spirit shines through is stark contrast to the grimness of his life. As this powerful tale ends, this hopeful young boy dreams ‘we find a space, the size of a carpet, where the bombs cannot touch us.’ " ~The Toronto Star
“In The Roses In My Carpets, an Afghani boy lives in a mud-drenched refugee camp caring for his mother and sister, and measuring his life by the next trip to the well or finding the next piece of bread. Except, that is, when he escaped into his work as an apprentice carpet weaver. Then ‘with my fingers I create a world the war cannot touch.’ Spare, unsentimental prose from Torontonian Rukhsana Khan and pictures by Tucson, Ariz. based Ronald Himler make this a moving story.” ~ Macleans Magazine~
“A young refugee boy from Afghanistan struggles toward adulthood in a compassionate tale from Khan about the healing of the human spirit… In his graceful narrative, he names the colors he works with: ‘White for the shroud we wrapped my father’s body in. Black is for the night that cloaks us from enemy eyes. Green is the color of life. Blue is the sky. One day it will be free of jets.’ Leaden skies and mud-colored walls contrast with the bright colors of the carpet; Himler’s watercolor and pencil drawings, spare as the text, build poignantly to a portrait of a life.” ~Kirkus Reviews
“The power of war surrounds us in this beautifully woven story of one young refugee’s reality…He gathers water, goes to school, prays, and protects his loved ones. Beyond the darkness, though, there is the hope of the rose…” ~Children’s Literature
“A young Afghanistan refugee finds a bit of comfort and solace in his stark life from the colorful roses in the carpets he weaves. The story presents very realistically the way the boy, his sister and mother manage to survive in their war-torn world. Highly recommended to aid in understanding the horrible effect of war on families.” ~Children’s Book Review Service