About Us

Hi we are Batta Books!

Batta Books was born out of an effort to keep Arabic language and culture fun and engaging for small children and adults!

My name is Lulia and I am the founder of Batta Books. I am Syrian American, born and raised in New York with a background in law. My husband and I had our daughter, Selma, in 2020 and she is book obsessed! Selma also loves music, so we try to expose her to many different types of music (for our sanity) since there is only so much "kiddie" music we can listen to. We immediately gravitated towards buying sound books for Selma but noticed Arabic sound books were hard to find in the US.

Batta Books first sound board book, 'Arabic Nursery Rhymes' aims to marry classical Arabic instruments such as the oud and bizuq to popular Arabic nursery rhymes, with attractive sound buttons for the littlest hands to easily navigate and eye-catching illustrations by Lina Safar that highlight themes of cultural significance.

We are incredibly proud to have collaborated with the Brooklyn Nomads who have expertly rearranged 6 classic Arabic Nursery Rhymes that will entertain the whole family!

Our Story

Based in Washington, DC, Batta Books is a publishing house motivated by young children’s natural love of beautiful art and music. Our goal is to captivate children’s attention to pass down Arab language and cultural elements in a fun and easy way. 

Arabic is considered one of the most difficult languages to learn and for non-native Arabic speakers trying to pass down Arabic can feel like a daunting task. Batta Books aims to be approachable and take an inclusive approach to encouraging Arabic speakers/readers of all levels to engage with Arabic language and culture. 

Our Brand

We are excited to launch our brand with a classic Arabic Nursery Rhymes Book created to inspire and cultivate a passion for Arabic language and culture. The classical music in our book engages children and parents alike in motivating increased exposure and use of Arabic. The illustrations in the book are not only beautiful to look at but include educational opportunities in both a classical sense (identifying letters, shapes and numbers) but also present important cultural themes that can be used as talking points when reading with your children. Our accompanying merchandise is meant to incorporate fun graphic and musical elements from the book into your child’s life with our Batta Books Logo Blanket and Tambourine for children and Mama's Tote Bag for adults. 

Our Heritage

My daughter, Selma (now 3 years old!) is half Syrian and Palestinian. Although I (Lulia) was born and raised in NY, being raised by two very proud Damascene parents meant I was constantly exposed to Syrian culture through food, music and language. My entire family has the best memories of spending our summers in Damascus visiting extended family. Similarly, my husband would make annual trips to Amman, Jordan with his extended family. This is a story that will sound familiar to many second generation Arabs living abroad. As visiting our homelands becomes more and more difficult, I have seen an overwhelming desire for myself and friends to connect our children to Arabic culture and language. Coming up with ways to incorporate Arabic into our daily lives can become difficult when parents (one or both) are not fluent, speak different dialects of Arabic or do not speak/read Arabic at all! By creating products that connect our children to Arabic language and music in an easily accessible way for parents (of all Arabic proficiencies), we hope that teaching your children Arabic and perhaps reinforcing/improving your own Arabic will be a fun experience for all!