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Babajoon's Treasure

Illustrated by Nabi H. Ali

About The Book

From the creator of Nickelodeon’s hit series Shimmer and Shine comes a sweet and imaginative picture book about a little girl who spends the day with her grandfather and learns more about who he is.

Every summer, Miriam spends a week at her Babajoon and Mamanjoon’s house. It’s her favorite part of summer because every day with her grandparents is an adventure. But when coins fall out of Babajoon’s pocket as he’s getting ice cream, Miriam finds one coin that doesn’t look like the rest—a gold one unlike Miriam has ever seen before.

Suddenly, she starts to notice certain things about her Babajoon. He can talk to parrots. He speaks with codewords. He trades crystal treasures with his friends. Could her Babajoon be…a pirate?

About The Author

Photograph © Nickelodeon

Farnaz Esnaashari is the award-winning creator of Nickelodeon’s Shimmer and Shine and worked as a post-production supervisor on Go, Diego, Go! and Dora the Explorer. Farnaz is inspired by her Iranian American upbringing and loves stories with strong female heroes and vibrant multiculturalism. As a mother of two young kids, Farnaz sees the importance of empowering children with an understanding of resilience. She lives in Los Angeles, California.

About The Illustrator

Nabi H. Ali is a Tamil American illustrator who enjoys creating diverse works that showcase an array of cultures and peoples. His interest in illustrative works started when he realized he could help create representation in the arts and in media for minorities, and he is very passionate about working with characters that he would have liked to see when he was a kid. His favorite quality in art is experimenting with color and what the right colors can do to make a piece of art magical. His hobbies include drawing (of course), doll collecting, reading, learning about South Asian mythology and folklore, and researching history.

Why We Love It

“What captured our hearts immediately about this story is how it’s about a grandchild learning about a grandparent’s life and childhood through the frame of the grandchild’s imagination. While it may look whimsical at first, this is a story grounded in emotion and real immigrant experiences.”

—Deeba Z., Editor, on Babajoon’s Treasure

Product Details

  • Publisher: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers (March 28, 2023)
  • Length: 40 pages
  • ISBN13: 9781665901895
  • Ages: 4 - 8

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