Children's Storytime: HILWA'S GIFTS by Safa Suleiman

Join us for a children's storytime with Safa Suleiman, author of Hilwa's Gifts. The author will read and sign her beautiful picture book and then attendees will be invited to share in olive oil and pita from our neighbors at the Middle Eastern Bakery.

Storytime is designed for ages 2 and up, but all are welcome. Registration is required.

A heartwarming picture-book debut brings a tradition many thousands of years old—harvesting and pressing olives into oil—vividly to life, showing how customs unite us across time and space.

Ali has arrived in Palestine for a visit just in time for the olive harvest. His grandfather, Seedo, and Hilwa—his favorite tree—greet him in the grove, where Seedo explains that Hilwa has many gifts to share. Other family members whack the trees’ branches with sticks, singing “Zaytoon, ya zaytoon” while cousins clap and dance and happily pick up fallen olives. (Luckily, a gentle whack is all it takes for Hilwa’s fruits to rain down!) The next day, at the olive press, Ali watches the drip of gold liquid into a can, another of Hilwa’s gifts. Later, they picnic under the tree’s branches with hot mint tea, pita, and delicious olive oil swirled on hummus. Tradition is the greatest gift of all: the family gathering—generation after generation—to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Dynamic illustrations and a graceful text peppered with Arabic words, plus a glossary and author’s note, make for an intimate picture-book debut about a child discovering his heritage.

Safa Suleiman is a Palestinian American educator with more than twenty years of experience in undergraduate and elementary school pedagogy. She is the author of Hilwa’s Gifts published by Candlewick Press which received a starred review from Booklist, calling it “an absolute treasure,” and Ameena’s Special Thobe slated for release in the Spring 2027. Safa lives with her family in Colorado on the homeland of the Ute Nation.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Women & Children First, 5233 North Clark Street, Chicago, United States