Steering away from translations of Western classics, publishers began to take serious pedagogical interest in developing children’s literature and illustration in such a way as to be socially, linguistically and aesthetically relevant to the Arab child’s modern context. The leading example is Cairo’s Dar al-Maarif picture-books, written by Kamel Kilani—a pioneering author of Arabic children’s literature—and illustrated by prominent artists such as Hussein Bicar, who spearheaded an artistic movement of indigenous picture-books and comics for children. A subsequent generation and network of Arab artists who studied under him in Cairo’s School of Fine Art, including Ihab Shaker, Mohieddine Ellabbad and Nazir Nabaa, pursued his endeavours beyond Egypt. Ellabbad, in particular, took on the art direction of Dar al-Fata al-Arabi during its foundational years in Beirut from 1974 to 1976. Building on his experience with Dar al-Fata, Ellabbad subsequently set up in Cairo the Arab Experimental Workshop for Children’s Books (al-warsha al-tajribiyya al-arabiyya li kutub al-atfal) as an independent platform where he pursued his decolonial aesthetic explorations and transnational Arab networks of artistic collaborations.

In a whimsical, yet critical, interplay between word and image, young readers are introduced to concepts such as home, hope, social justice, freedom and solidarity, as well as to localised instruction in the alphabet, numbers and colours without shying away from difficult political issues.

Teenagers get to read folk tales, histories of Islam and the Arab sciences, accompanied by colourful illustrations and vibrant designs that lend a modern expression to local heritage subjects and invite playful interactions. Crucial are the ways in which the visual dimensions of these picture-books summon creative and imaginative forms of identification and self-affirmation for the Arab youth. Be that in the illustrations they contain or in their overall graphic design and aesthetic expression, these books have a sense of pride in Arab cultural identity, literary heritage and history, otherwise absent — if not explicitly devalued — in the then typical translations of classical European children’s literature and in the predominant colonial pedagogical models of the time.

It is no surprise that this period’s twofold engagement in decolonising both art and pedagogy also saw the rise of educational picture-books focussed on Arab art, architecture and graphic design: introducing a local history and documenting contemporary practice, passing on indigenous knowledge, creating and adapting tool kits to suit local needs and modern technological constraints. Of note is the art series published by the Iraqi Ministry of Information in the early seventies, as well as those by Dar al-Muthallath in late seventies Beirut, which produced a remarkable collection of educational art and design books — albeit for a brief period before the emancipatory politics behind such projects was violently crushed. This potential library addressed aspiring artists, architects and graphic designers with assiduous care and with a powerfully distinctive commitment to building a progressive postcolonial Arab future.