This thread is on behalf of my mum, who asked me to put our books up as ebooks—these are Lebanese Heritage books for young readers we make together, and normally her main living, but you can imagine what crisis/pandemic/apocalypse have done to that, so she’s turning to digital.

They’re now all available on my other shop at http://cedarseed.com/shop  but let me tell you a bit about this series which ranges from history to geology via food, fauna and traditional crafts, and please do RT to anyone whose jam this might be.

I prefer to call them “child-friendly” books, because after the first couple of titles I went nuclear. If you know my last book, you know what I mean: behind the cute covers are packs and packs of information, much of it from primary/oral sources, all checked by relevant experts.

Schools have used these books for semester-long class projects. Some adults buy them for themselves. All are available in French or English, some in Arabic. Each 4th book added to cart is free, or get the full set—it all goes to my mum, who printed them all out of her pocket.

Here's the story behind the 13 titles!
1. Excavating Beirut: Where it all started back in 2004. Mum had long volunteered on an archaeology dig in the city centre and she wanted to tell that story. Good child-oriented books on Lebanon were not a thing; we decided to give it a go.

2. Purple and Silk: I raised two generations of silkworms in my bedroom for this, which will surprise exactly nobody who follows me. This title is also why I give a mighty sniff everytime someone claims to have unlocked the “lost secret" of purple dye. Read a book, mates.

3. The Cedar of Lebanon: This one was carried on the wings of the Beirut Spring in 2005, possibly the best few months the country’s known in my lifetime. Boy does this tree have a history, from Gilgamesh to British estates.

4. Olive, Soap, Hammam: We were frequent visitors to Tripoli, where traditional soapmaking (olive oil-based) was starting up again after the war, and where hammams still operate: putting the three together only natural, and fun. (It's still the only soap I use!)

5. Gebal, Byblos, Jbeil: Where we started getting serious about history—8,000 years of history in this case, and the birth of the alphabet. I made every effort to have period-accurate clothing and accessories and to bring heaps of stones back to life in a relatable way.

6. Sea Turtles and Endangered Species: Started as the story of Mona Khalil's fight to protect sea turtles and their eggs, but we expanded it into a survey of Lebanese wildlife and how it fit into the culture. Who knew what is now Hamra used to be Wewiyye cuz jackals roamed there?

7. Houses of Lebanon: THIS ONE'S SO GOOD. We covered with great love every typology of domestic architecture and its evolution with lifestyle details, down to the cat door. It's a particularly heartbreaking topic, but so fascinating. OK so I have a thing about architecture.

8. Tyre and her history: So much history AND mythology. Europe! Cadmos! Elissa Dido! And also, importantly, explaining the truths encoded in the stories. Tyre was the peak. I officially drove myself into a corner with the illustrations on this one, going all-out.

9. Discovering Jeita: A proper epic adventure and the true story of the exploration of this wonder of wonders, much of it directly from the man who first reached the grotto's endpoint. It’s full of geological features which I had a blast illustrating with clay models.

10. The Days of Mouneh: FOOD GLORIOUS FOOD. Possibly my favourite, all about traditional winter preserves (food technology!) and the Lebanese pantry of old. Happily much of this heritage is still very much alive (because we love our bellies). This book was a joy to make.

11. Glass and Glassmaking: Packed with glass technology made deliciously fun, and featuring actual glass objects found in Lebanese museums, this book is so colourful it's trippy. Each technique is shown step-by-step, so it can be emulated in polymer clay.