Category Archives: middle grades

Jul24

A Party in Ramadan By Asma Mobin-Uddin Illustrated by Laura Jacobsen

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This is a great book that works on a variety of levels.  Leena is fasting the whole day for the first time, but is also invited to a friends party.  Her mom gives her the choice to fast or not as it is not yet mandatory at her age, and she decides to fast AND go to the party.  The story takes you through the activities of the party and how some parts are easy and some harder for the fasting Leena.  The end has a wonderful surprise for both Leena and the reader as the author gives us all reason to hope that respect among friends exists, and that in fact one can stay true to their beliefs and have support from their friends.

This book is  great conversation starter for older kids who maybe have tried to fast and felt the temptations of day-to-day life in a non -Islamic environment.  With an AR level of 4.2 and 34 pages the story is strong enough to hold a fourth graders attention and get them to analyze what they would do in a similar situation.  Although the book is about Ramadan and some facets about how fasting is done, what it means, and why Muslims do it, are sprinkled in, the story isn’t overly religious in nature.  The characters are simply Muslim, they pray, they thank Allah, they wear hijab, they make duaas and they also go to friend’s parties. I think non-Muslims would benefit from this book and see the beauty of diversity as Leena and her friends support one another.  The pictures also do a wonderful job of depicting the story: the characters are warm and happy, some cover some do not, they eat chocolate pudding and Baklava and the reader sees how a Muslim family is just like any other family.

The added beauty of this book is that it also works for story time. The younger ones may or may not understand the potential stress of being the only Muslim at a party, let alone being the only one fasting, but they do understand that Leena wanted to eat and drink and she remembered that when her little sister wanted her dessert.  They also understand how sometimes it is hard to do what is right, but inshaAllah the reward is sweet indeed.

Jul19

Magid Fasts for Ramadan by Mary Matthews illustrated by E. B. Lewis

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Magid Fasts for Ramadan by Mary Matthews illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Magid Fasts for Ramadan

The intent of this 48 page chapter book is good, however, a few things rubbed me the wrong way about how Ramadan and Islam are presented.

Nearly eight-year-old Magid wants to fast on the first day of Ramadan, but everyone says he is much to young.  He decides to deceive everyone and fast anyway.  I’m actually okay with this main story line, as I could genuinely see a child wanting to do it so much they would lie about it.  The author even has the family sit down after the truth comes out and discuss how honesty is important and this is not how Ramadan should be celebrated.  Lesson learned for Magid and the reader, right? Nope, the author kind of blows it and takes it to the other extreme.

Magid’s sister Aisha is twelve and is “forced” to fast so she isn’t the only girl not fasting at her all girl’s school in Egypt.  What a sad reason to fast, The whole reason Magid wants to fast is to be a “truly obedient Muslim” which sounds great on the surface, but it get’s repeated so often that Magid at one point is judging a classmate who isn’t fasting and isn’t always at Jummah (Friday) prayers.  The parents decide at the end to let Aisha fast until school is out, hence shortening the day for appearance purposes, and Magid can fast til lunch.   He is told he can fast full days when the days are shorter.  Again a really odd reason to wait when fasting has been prescribed for us, to make it an issue of convenience.

So aside from the very negative view of Ramadan and the kids rejoicing at the end that they don’t “have” to fast, the lying, the disobeying your mother, and the judgmental laden diction of being truly obedient, the book does cover a lot of ground well.  The book shows the characters doing wudu and praying, it shows them trying to be kind to one another, it talks about how the Quran was revealed in the month of Ramadan and it does have a plot.

The water color illustrations are nice, and I also like how it showed a bit of Egyptian culture with the lanterns, singing, and food.  Interestingly the author says it is harder for Muslim’s in America to fast, but elsewhere says that Aisha has to watch the girls at school not fasting, eat lunch.

I really wouldn’t recommend this book, for the intended audience of 3rd through fifth graders I think it would do more harm than good in promoting Islamic values in Muslim children and in showing non-Muslims what Ramadan means to Muslims.