Excerpt:
As a young Pakistani-American Muslim girl growing up in Connecticut, Zareen Jaffery used to devour novels by Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume, hoping those stories would offer some clues for how to fit in.
"I remember looking at books to try to figure out, 'What does it mean to be American? Am I doing this right?'" Ms. Jaffery said. "The truth is, I didn't see myself reflected in books back then."
Some 30 years later, Muslim characters remain scarce in mainstream children's literature. But now Ms. Jaffery, an executive editor of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, is in a position to change that.