I got this book at the same time as Sajaad is Sick, and thought they would go together nicely. They did, Alhumdulillah, but I was honestly a little underwhelmed by this book.
For the most part. the pictures are detailed and fun, but they have the appearance of being done with either crayon or colored pencils and don’t pop off the page and grab the reader’s attention. If they were a little brighter and bolder, it would definitely help the overall story, especially since the illustrator is clearly talented.
The story itself is clever and funny, but kind of unresolved at the end. Once the Pre-k 3 through KG students were done laughing, they wanted to know why her sneeze was tiny. Was it because she put both hands over her mouth or because it was just a little sneeze? They got a little annoyed that I didn’t know the answer and that there was no moral, or lesson, or conclusion. I think after so many sneezes and so much repetition they were a bit unsettled that she would again resume her out of control startling sneezes, with no more hope of containing them.
Something else that struck me as being odd about the book is that the main character and her family are visibly Muslim in a diverse environment, yet Sana never says “Alhumdulillah” and her family never says “yarhamukum Allah” following her sneezes. I added it in when I read it aloud, since that is basic Islamic etiquette, but a few of the Kindergartner’s in the first row caught on that it was missing and wanted to know why. Again I had no answer.
A layout criticism I have of the book is the inside margin. It is too small and when reading aloud to a group, I could not see the last word of the line without moving my head or the book, and thus blocking the students from seeing the illustrations. The font and text and overall book size is adequate, but the first few readings, until I practically memorized the book, were a little cumbersome.
The illustrations are bright and colorful and have a lot going on. The expressions on the character’s faces compliment and complete the text seamlessly to tell a well thought out story. They keep the audience’s attention even after the text is read, with the kids telling me to “wait” so that they could soak it all in before I turned each page. The mom and teacher’s expressions on the last page amused the daycare through Kindergarten students and made them feel like they were in on the silliness.
The real treat of the book however, is how it all comes together: the words, pictures, sentence structure, font, size, and diction all compliment each other on the same level. I read a lot of books aloud as a children’s librarian, and while the rhyming ones are great for the littlest listeners, there is often a void of read-out-loud stories for the kindergarten and first grade levels. And I am talking about all books, not just Islamic ones. Most picture books in my experience are written on a third grade level, with longer blocks of texts, smaller fonts, a wider range of vocabulary and longer sentences. These books are often beautiful and very tempting, however when I read them during story time I end up “summarizing” them, and telling the story rather than reading it. Similarly, early readers often find them frustrating and too difficult to read independently. Bismillah Soup strikes a wonderful balance, mashaAllah.
Islamic School Librarian 