Unusually we Start the Day Global today in Michigan, USA, where this delightful story caught my eye over at Publishers Weekly.

Girls of the Crescent: Teen Sisters Promote Stories of Muslim Girls

When sisters Mena and Zena Nasiri, both avid teen readers, noticed a dearth of YA books featuring Muslim females like themselves, they took steps to remedy this gap in representation.
The Michigan residents have founded Girls of the Crescent, with the mission of collecting and distributing recent books that spotlight strong Muslim heroines to schools and libraries. The sisters are gathering donations through various fundraisers, including book fairs and food drives, and individual contributions from friends, neighbors, and authors donating their own books.
To date, the Nasiris have gathered nearly 200 book donations for the library collections of 21 schools in their district. They have also donated more than 100 books to various public libraries and other school districts, in addition to encouraging librarians to purchase recommended titles for their patrons.

Read more over at PW.

Staying with a Muslim theme briefly, and miniature books have been in the news lately. The Guardian ran an article you’ve probably seen, purporting to explain Why we are fascinated by miniature books.
Of course a tiny copy of The Bible is a staple of such articles, and The Guardian didn’t disappoint.
But it missed another holy miniature.

World’s Smallest Quran on Display in Jeddah International Book Fair

There’s not much detail in this appropriately brief report from Iran’s Iqna, but a reminder that sometimes reporters need to be a little more diverse in their research if they want to reflect the multicultural world we live in.
Read more over at Iqna.

From Saudi Arabia to India, where a certain western publisher of children’s non-fiction is marking a special event.

Celebrating 20 Years Of Publishing In India

DK has always been one of the few global publishers of illustrated non-fiction, with titles published in over 60 languages, and its India office plays a pivotal role in its publishing operations. In the last 20 years, the publication house has made strong inroads in the local market as well.

Head over to All About Book Publishing to find out more.

Back to the USA now for one of the biggest stories lost in the pre-Christmas frenzy.

Netflix and the golden ticket

The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the streaming giant Netflix had invested a nine figure sum to buy rights to 15 of Roald Dahl’s books.

The streamer has hinted at a shared universe in its adaptations of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda and a number of other Dahl books. It’s a page from the franchise-building playbook employed by movie studios — and increasingly, TV networks and streaming companies looking for ways to give viewers a port in the never-ending storm of content that is the Peak TV era.

Read more over at The Hollywood Reporter.

And finally, staying with children’s books, an inspiring story of an eleven year old girl in South Africa who is looking to have two of her books published this year.

Africa’s youngest published author steps up her publishing schedule

Stacey Fru is no stranger to the publishing world. She became Africa’s youngest published author after writing her first book at the tender age of 7.
Now she will be adding two more books – Where is Tammy and Tim’s Answer – to her bookshelf.
“The next book is titled Where is Tammy and it’s about the whole aspect of the kidnapping of children in South Africa. The book is to raise awareness for parents and children who are in the situation,” Fru told News24.

Yeah, sit back and read that bit again. In the rich west our children’s books try to reflect the everyday realities of life, but some topics are still taboo, even for adult authors.
Not content with tackling the hardships facing Africa’s children in her books, this remarkable child has also established the Stacey Fru Foundation which collects and donates books, computers, clothing and food to other children.
Said Stacey,

Don’t let anyone tell you the sky is the limit when there are footprints on the moon.

Read more about Stacey Fru over at the Malaysia Sun.