密歇根新闻广播 如何在图书馆找到想看的书

What do you do when you're looking for a certain type of book in the library and you come up empty-handed?

Sisters Zena and Mena Nasiri first experienced that dilemma¹ in fourth grade. A research project required them to read about someone they looked up to, but when they went to their local library to find biographies² about Muslim women they admired, they couldn't find any.

It was the first time they realized that the libraries in their community had a serious lack of diversity, particularly when it came to the narratives³ of Muslim women.

The two came up with a solution to that problem years later after reading The Lines We Cross by Randa Abdel-Fattah. It was the first book Zena and Mena had ever come across that featured a Muslim woman as a main character.

It brought us memories back from fourth grade, and that inspired us to start a nonprofit Girls of the Crescent, where we collect books with female Muslim main characters and then donate them to schools and libraries, Zena said.

Supported by fundraising, ranging from bottle drives to website donations, the girls purchase a wide variety of biography⁴, fiction, and nonfiction books to donate. The sisters have raised more than 4,000 dollars, and have donated around 500 books to public libraries and individual classrooms. As avid⁵ readers themselves, the sisters understand the importance of seeing yourself represented in the books you read.

It kind of gives us a sense of being included in society because if children grow up and they don't see themselves in the media, or they don't see themselves in books, it shows they're not really included or they're not shown in society, said Mena.

Mena and Zena say they want to get books featuring Muslim women and girls into every classroom in their district, and eventually all over the world.

1 dilemma   

n.困境，进退两难的局面

参考例句：

• I am on the horns of a dilemma about the matter.这件事使我进退两难。
• He was thrown into a dilemma.他陷入困境。

2 biographies   

n.传记( biography的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There are plenty of biographies for him to browse over. 有大量传记供他浏览。 来自辞典例句
• He likes to read biographies of great men to promote himself. 他喜欢读伟人传记来提高自己。 来自互联网

3 narratives   

记叙文( narrative的名词复数 )； 故事； 叙述； 叙述部分

参考例句：

• Marriage, which has been the bourne of so many narratives, is still a great beginning. 结婚一向是许多小说的终点，然而也是一个伟大的开始。
• This is one of the narratives that children are fond of. 这是孩子们喜欢的故事之一。

4 biography   

n.个人经历，传记

参考例句：

• He is now collecting material for a biography of Tao Yuanming.他正在为写陶渊明传记搜集材料。
• Boswell wrote a famous biography of Dr.White.鲍斯韦尔为怀特博士写过一本著名传记。

5 avid   

adj.热心的；贪婪的；渴望的；劲头十足的

参考例句：

• He is rich,but he is still avid of more money.他很富有,但他还想贪图更多的钱。
• She was avid for praise from her coach.那女孩渴望得到教练的称赞。