Tag Archives: Learning

My Special Angels: The Two Noble Scribes by Razana Noor illustrated by Omar Burgess

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My Special Angels: The Two Noble Scribes by Razana Noor illustrated by Omar Burgess

angels

The book starts with a brief introduction to Kiraman Katibin, the two recording angels, and reminds parents that before the age of maturity only the good deeds are recorded. That being established the book then works to develop the conscientiousness of having all of our actions recorded, so that we train ourselves from a young age to be mindful of what we do and say.

angel1

Following a precious little boy with fantastic hair, and a bit of a mischievous smile, the reader learns how we each have an angel on our right and left side.  We learn how sharing makes the angel on the right happy, as does stopping ourselves from getting mad.  We learn that its the little things and the big things, the stuff we do in public and the stuff that we think no one sees that get written down.  The angel on the left notes down all the mistakes too, and these make the angel sad.  But alhumdulillah apologies and forgiveness can rub away good deeds, guiding us on the path to jannah, inshaAllah.

angel22

The beautiful full color pictures are beyond adorable, and the rhyming couplets work perfect for preschoolers.  The font, the playfulness of the text on each of the 24 pages, the hardbound book and the 10 x 10 size make this book absolutely perfect for books shelves and for story time.  There is a glossary at the back that defines not just the Arabic words, but also some of the english vocabulary words that might need some explaining:  glee, deeds, angels.  My only complaint is that there isn’t a whole series of books by this author and illustrator coaching and guiding our little muslims in manners and basic belief.

angel 4

Faatimah & Ahmed: We’re Little Muslims by Razeena Gutta illustrated by Abira Das

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Faatimah & Ahmed: We’re Little Muslims by Razeena Gutta illustrated by Abira Das

faatimah and ahmed

I found this book at the library and immediately loved that it talked about who we are as Muslims on a preschool level.  It is one of the few books that I have found on this age level or any age level that discusses Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and it seems like there should be more, a lot more,books that do.  That being said, while the content is valuable, the story and presentation is a little jumbled to me.

The book starts out with Faatimah introducing herself and her brother Ahmed as little Muslims, which is adorable.

faatimah page 1

The bright playful pictures, the font, the number of words on the page all seem perfect for a four year old like Faatimah, but then you turn the page.

faatimah page 2

Woah! That’s a lot of text, and its all very stream of thought for a 4 year old.  Which after multiple reading I still can’t decide if I like or find annoying.  This story style returns later as she goes off for four pages about camels.  Here though it details what she likes, what she loves, that her brother is six, that he likes spaghetti, that spaghetti is messy. You get the point it is a lot of information for no real reason.  I see that the book is one of a series, so I’m hoping maybe if you read them all, these numerous little facts might connect you to Faatimah, but in a stand alone book it comes across as filler and an over bearing attempt to add character to a factual based story.

Flip the page again and the text slightly reduces as the stage is set to actually start the purpose of the book.  Ahmed comes home and is about to tell her about what he learned at school, mainly the story of Rasulullah.

fatimah page 3

Sitting on the rug, Ahmed tells Faatimah who Aaminah and Abdullah and Abdul Muttalib are.  Faatimah can’t say Abdul Muttalib, which is cute and believable, but then she turns from being the day dreamy child, back to being the narrator and asks the reader, “can you say it?”

Ahmed tells where Arabia is and that he was born on a Monday in Rabiul-Awwal in the year 570. The kids simultaneously review Islamic months and days of the week in the illustrations.  They then finish with talking about the specialness of the name Muhammad itself, and how kind, truthful, and helpful he was.  Both kids decide they want to be like Muhammad (peace be upon him), alhumdulillah.

faatimah and ahmed average

Once the actual “story” starts, the amount of text on the page evens out and is appropriate.  I think the awkwardness of Faatimah rambling is a bit excessive, but the concept would work in moderation.  I want to read the other books in the series, and I want to test the book out to some three and four-year olds and come back and update this post, inshaAllah.

The book is 34 pages, hardbound 8.5 by 8.5.  There is a glossary in the back and works well for teaching Muslim and non-Muslim kids about Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and getting a glimpse of what Islam is, in a non preachy positive way.