• Age: 4 to 8
• Grade: p to 3

Crescent Moon Friends introduces the reader to two best friends Amelia and Aisha. While the pair is from Canada and Afghanistan, the girls reconcile their differences through exploration of the values they share. This book initiates a family conversation about Islam, explores tradition and language, and brings the girls closer together as a result. It is our hope that the book will be used as a teaching tool to help children understand the cultural backgrounds of others, and to create a warm environment for refugees resettling in Atlantic Canada from the Middle East. This picture book is for both non- Muslims who are living in the West, and Muslims who are living outside their home countries. The focus of the book is on tradition, not religion, it also captures the significance of Islam. This is a valuable title for library and classroom use.

Wadia Samadi studied Economics and German Studies at University of Richmond in Virginia, USA. She has experience working in management and communications in Afghanistan, where she worked for the public and private sectors and the Afghan media. She is the owner of Wadsam.com, Afghanistan's first business news portal. She loves covering stories of Afghan women, and her works have been published by various international news agencies. She works as the Finance and Operations Officer for a non-profit in Washington D.C. She recently launched a children's book on Farsi alphabets. It's the world's first dry-erase book for Farsi alphabets. She's an MBA candidate at the University of Mary Washington. When she is not working, she loves spending time with her husband and two children.

Wadia Samadi's profile page

Lisa Lypowy has been painting in watercolours all her life and finds it the ideal medium for producing fresh and lively images. Lisa has had a wide variety of other career experiences, from art gallery attendant at London's Royal Academy of Arts to dental hygienist in Edmonton, Alberta, to entomology tech for Natural Resources Canada. The one constant — she sketched and doodled her way through them all! Lisa lives in Edmonton, Alberta and this is her first children's book.

Lisa Lypowy's profile page

Mo Duffy Cobb has an MFA from the Vermont College of Fine Arts and has been published in The Rumpus, Literary Mama, Red, Damselfly Press, and Understorey Magazine. She is the editor of Cargo Literary, an online magazine that publishes transformational travel experiences. She lives in Prince Edward Island with her husband and three small children.

Mo Dufy Cobb's profile page