good vs evil | Islamic School Librarian

An engaging chapter book that blends adventure, friendship, battles, mystery, and faith over 292 pages of easy reading and rich storytelling. The book appeals to readers 10 and up with it being completely clean and age appropriate for anyone younger who can handle the storyline. The characters are not just active and practicing Muslims, but the story too, is Islamic in nature. The story is unabashedly pro-Islam and slightly dogmatic, but not overly preachy and faith is woven in seamlessly throughout the story.

SYNOPSIS:

The Sultan of the Islamic Empire is having a recurring dream that involves a floating city falling when a flying object hits it, when he asks his guiding Imam what it means he learns that the city will be destroyed unless the Sultan assists. Not knowing where the city is, what the object is, and trusting the Sheikh explicitly, a retired soldier is brought back in to service to find the city and save it. Adam, before he leaves the capital is joined by two others to help him on his journey, Ali and Umar. Ali is a quiet man whose voice when reciting is absolutely beautiful and whose eyesight and archery skills are unparalleled. Umar is the Muezzin and the Grand Mosque and a seemingly close figure to the Sultan with familial ties to the area. The trio sets off to Benghazi to talk with some Bedouins who were ambushed by some man-beasts and are too afraid to speak of the encounter. It is believed that their experience and the dream are linked.

To reach Benghazi they must travel first by boat for about a week, while at sea they come across an abandoned vessel that has but one survivor and a lion aboard. After the lion is killed and the injured man brought with them, they are able to continue to try and get information from the Bedouins. Finally, the Bedouins and the trio are off to the place of the attack and the journey moves on. When a rockslide and attack from these same mysterious beasts separates the group, Adam, Ali, and Umar are on their own to make there way through the mountains and figure out the threat on their own without the Bedouins. They journey through a river within a mountain for days on end before meeting soldiers that take them back to their unnamed city. The city is the one from the dream. And as they must search to understand what plagues the inhabitants, how to defeat it, and how to survive, they suffer loses, confusion and only a few answers. They do save the city from the immediate threat, but not from a larger looming one.

WHY I LIKE IT:

The book reads really smooth, a lot of self published chapter books are all over the place, and this one, sticks to the story pretty well. There are a few tangents, such as the lion on the ship, that really have very little baring on the story, except to show maybe how good of an archer Ali is, however, most are mildly amusing and thus not terribly frustrating. There are a few smaller incidents that make the book a little less cohesive, for example a passage about a man named Tarek, who brings the Sultan a message and is rewarded with gold, or such detail about Umar not being allowed to go on the assignment and then the Sultan allowing him to go, perhaps it is to show the Sultan’s generosity and willingness to take other people’s opinions in to consideration, but they aren’t particularly smooth anecdotes to the book and read a bit unpolished. Often these little dives into side issues with fair amounts of detail made me think they would play a role later in the book, but by-and-large, they don’t. One that particularly stood out was Adam meeting the Chief’s daughter in the forbidden woods. I still really want to know why she and her children were there. I also wanted more information about the man-beast figures and the man and woman that were so quickly killed, and the markings on the trees and in the caves (trying not to spoil too much), in the climax.

I love that the book is Islamic fiction from top to bottom, there are lots of morals exposed and teachings mentioned in real tangible situations. The character’s pray and carry themselves at all times as Muslims and it is refreshing to read. Characters in the book take shahada based on the manners of the Muslim characters and the readers see and understand repeatedly the power actions and values have in defining a person. One of my favorite exchanges in the book is when Adam tells Ali, “The main reason for failure is manners. To be specific, lack of manners.” The details continue, and hopefully reinforce and articulate what parents everywhere are trying to teach their children.

The font and binding and all are adequate, I don’t love the cover though. It seems this is the second cover, and I wish it was more eye catching, it is really bland, and unfortunately won’t compel readers to pick it up. I also really wish their was a map.

FLAGS:

There is violence, nothing sensationalized or celebrated and it even mentions how heavy hearted characters should be about going in to battle and taking a life.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I would love to do this as a middle school book club book. I’d love to hear how the students take the Sultan being referred to as Allah’s representative on Earth. I get Leader of the Believers, and even Caliph, but I felt this description to be a bit grandiose. I actually thought it was perhaps a Shia perspective, nothing wrong with that, it just wasn’t something I’d ever heard before and yes I assumed, but the author said, “Of course not.“ He then said, “The Caliph must ensure that the laws of Allah, Most High, are present on Earth. Every Caliph represented the Creator ensuring Shariah was present, the same as every Prophet and Messenger.” Still not completely clear, I asked a trusted source (not Google) who said it comes from the Ummayads under Muawiyah. So, I’m not sure if anyone else would be hung-up on this, but it is something that stood out to me, although definitely not making the book something to avoid.

I think kids will have strong opinions on the mystery at hand being the book ends on a cliff hanger. With a lot of questions still up in the air and no real right or wrong answer, I think discussing the book would be a lot of fun.

The book’s website: https://www.thebrokenkingdom.com/

Let me start off by saying that the fact alone that this book (and series) was written by a 9 year old is amazing. As a former 4th grade teacher, if I saw this type of writing come across my desk, I would have probably pushed her to keep writing and publish one day too. But, for all the support and love I wanted to give the book and the author, I really didn’t like the story. So much so, that even with the second book, Good or Evil, in my hands, I couldn’t justify spending less than an hour to read the 124 pages, which is heartbreaking to say, but honest, none-the-less.

The series is published by Archway Publishing which is a self publishing company through Simon and Schuster, so I have no idea if they have editors, or what the publishing process was for this book. But, while you might forgive a few plot holes, and story gaps because of the author’s age, there are sentences that simply don’t make sense, words that are missing, and passages, that seem to be arbitrarily made-up on the spot. So often the book reads like a child telling a bed time story and realizing they hadn’t explained something earlier and have to wiggle out of a tight spot, “and then, and then” become mechanisms to move the story along, when no other logical connection can suffice.

At 93 pages the books is written for 2nd – 4th graders, and while they might inspire others to write, I don’t know that they will get enough out of the story to read the four book series. The covers depict a girl that looks like Disney’s Belle and the title might excite fans of Disney’s Frozen. I would like to think the writing improves as the author develops and grows, and I’m fairly confident that I’ll check out one of her future books, however, I think I’ll sit the rest of this series out.

SYNOPSIS:

Fourth grader Samantha Ringle loves snow, and can’t wait for the next storm to arrive on Christmas day. After opening presents and celebrating the holiday, she meets Rebecca, a snow flake fairy from Freeze-land. Six children have gone missing in Samantha’s area, six children that were chosen by Santa and infused with his saliva. The children have gone to a distant planet to try and save it from the evil Lord Ninstagger, and return it to the snowy wonderland the Freezians once knew.

Lord Ninstragger has a wand and a creates rhyming spells to make it work, he also has some other weapon an any-weapon-a-tor that I never really understood, and he can only be defeated if a word is said, but the word will also kill all the inhabitants of the planet. To save the planet and free the other six children that have gone missing, she must defeat Ninstragger and his ninsting minions or Earth too will be destroyed.

Needless to say, she succeeds by having the good little cloud fairies cover their ears so she can say the word that will destroy the evil. She then has to get all six of her friends and her annoying brother who got caught in the wind that brought her to Freeze-land, home.

WHY I LIKE IT:

I love that this author can articulate a creative imaginative story in her head and that her family supported her endeavors and got the book published. I love that the author is Muslim and feels confident writing and sharing her words with the world. Outside of that, I’m not sure the story would have the same appeal if it was written by a 19 year old, or anyone older than a teenager.

There are huge plot holes. The book says that all the children are taken to the dungeon, but when Ninstragger is defeated it says that only Jake is in the dungeon, the rest are in jail. When freed all six show up instantly but the walk to the exact same place to free Jake is long and arduous and the climbing over the mountain is unbearable. Samantha seems to be surprised that Jake is there, but early had overheard a ninsting talking about Jake by name, to Ninstragger. Samantha doesn’t recognize the freed children or them her, even though some were her friends and they have been gone a year or less. Some things also don’t seem to make sense, such as how are their rain cloud fairies in a frozen wonderland? Why does the word kill the inhabitants, what does it mean, how did they learn it? Why are their ghosts that come out of the letters and give the wrong advice? How did Rebecca get all six to Freeze-land, but claim she hadn’t thought how to get Samantha there? Really the story is all over the place, and I could go on for many many paragraphs, but I think you get the point.

There is nothing Islamic about the book, and I understand that there doesn’t need to be, but I don’t understand why all the Christmas and Santa stuff is needed. I understand that the author may have used winter to set the stage for the story, but it seemed awkward to me that Santa randomly died going down a chimney into a lit fire, but yet sensed his time was coming and made a ton of arrangements for a future he would not have known would occur.

TOOLS FOR LEADING THE DISCUSSION:

I would not use this book as a book club selection, but if a child read it, I’d like to know there thoughts. To see if the wholes and inconsistencies are noticed by the target reader. My 11-year-old daughter struggled to make sense of the book, and while I tried so hard to force her to read the second one, after I read the first one I realized her hesitance and apologized.

Authors website: https://www.ayazsisters.com/

FLAGS:

The girl lies a lot and acknowledges that she lied to save Freeze-land, but then says that the book is completely true and not a lie. Obviously there is Christmas and Santa mentioned and celebrated as well.

The word “stupid” is used a lot, and when Samantha and Jake are interacting they are pretty rude to one another. While at the end, Samantha gains confidence and stands up a bit to a class bully, there is no reconciliation of her and her brother’s relationship. She shows no concern other than consenting to take him back to Earth, and doesn’t seem to have been worried or relieved to see him in any of the situations presented.

Islamic School Librarian

Reviewing Children & YA Islamic Fiction, Books by Muslim Authors, & Books Featuring Muslim Characters

Tag Archives: good vs evil

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