36. Accidentally Engaged by Farah Heron

listened on Audible
357 pgs.

2021
Adult contemporary romance
Finished 4/13/2024
Goodreads rating: 3.71
My rating: 5
Setting: Contemporary Toronto

My comments: One word: delightful.  Want to giggle and be thoroughly entertained?  In a reading slump?  This is the book to read.  Set in contemporary Toronto, this romantic comedy packs humor, family love and strife, and the love of cooking and baking into one very enjoyable story.  A huge plus for me was being able to peek into the culture and foods of the Indian Muslim community.  Note:  no actual gratuitous "steam", but the author does what she needs to get her point across....

Goodreads synopsis:   Reena Manji doesn’t love her career, her single status, and most of all, her family inserting themselves into every detail of her life. But when caring for her precious sourdough starters, Reena can drown it all out. At least until her father moves his newest employee across the hall--with hopes that Reena will marry him.

But Nadim’s not like the other Muslim bachelors-du-jour that her parents have dug up. If the Captain America body and the British accent weren’t enough, the man appears to love eating her bread creations as much as she loves making them. She sure as hell would never marry a man who works for her father, but friendship with a neighbor is okay, right? And when Reena’s career takes a nosedive, Nadim happily agrees to fake an engagement so they can enter a couples video cooking contest to win the artisan bread course of her dreams.

As cooking at home together brings them closer, things turn physical, but Reena isn’t worried. She knows Nadim is keeping secrets, but it’s fine— secrets are always on the menu where her family is concerned. And her heart is protected… she’s not marrying the man. But even secrets kept for self preservation have a way of getting out, especially when meddling parents and gossiping families are involved.

32. Home Fire by Kamala Shamsie

listened on Chirp
276 pgs.

2017
Adult realistic fiction
Finished 4/10/24
Goodreads rating: 4.03
My rating: 4
Setting: contemporary Massachusetts, London, Syria

My comments: I started this once, ages ago, but restarted from the beginning in one of my trying-to-fall-asleep sessions.  And it didn't go in any sort of direction that I thought it would.  This is a story that makes you think.  And tremble.  Terrorism.  Families.  Religious beliefs, and religious fanatics.  Patriotism.  Governments.  This is a tragic story, but what I'm sure is very, very real to thousands of people in our world.  I keep going back to thoughts about religious beliefs.  I look at what's going on in America right now, the huge differences between conservatism and liberalism.  Just like the hug differences between Hasidic Jews, reformed, and cultural Jews, and the vast differences between ultra religious Muslims and more liberal Muslims..... Political beliefs and religious beliefs all lumped together.  REALLY tough story, hard to rate.  I usually like stories that flip-flop between points-of-view and though I did not particularly care for it in this case, but to see all the different sides is definitely the best way for this story to be told.  

Goodreads synopsis:  Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.

Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love?

The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences.

82. Unsettled by Reem Faruqi

read book, then read on Kindle and liked it less?

2021

352 pgs.
Genre/Level MidGr CRF Verse
Finished  7/30 & 12/23/2021
Goodreads rating: 4.30
My rating: 5 & 3.5
Setting: mostly contemporary Peachtree, GA

My comments: Oh my, written in gorgeous verse.  I found myself reading and rereading beautiful pages of descriptive words.  All the emotions of a 13-year-old girl uprooted from her home, country, family, and life to come to America.  Se speaks gret English, so that's a big help, and for the most part kids aren't super mean - although they tend to ignore her.  She finds a place for herself in the swimming pool which she has always loved, in her art classes, and in her home with her family.  Wonderful story with even more wonderful writing.  I always enjoy reading about and learning more about any middle eastern culture.  (Read in Kindle format a second time five months laterand didn't even remember it, so weird....)

     Cool paragraph/verse from the book:

"My hair is always smooth and silky,

it makes friends easily

with my fingers

and the comb.

If I choose to cover my hair,

like my mother,

what will my face envy?"

Goodreads synopsis:  A stirring, hopeful immigration story of Nurah and her family, who move from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, from Reem Faruqi, ALA Notable author of the award-winning picture book Lailah’s Lunchbox. Powerful and charming, Other Words for Home meets Front Desk in this debut middle grade novel in verse about finding your footing in a new world.

From Pakistan to Peachtree City—Nurah’s stirring story of finding your place.

When Nurah’s family moves from Karachi, Pakistan, to Peachtree City, Georgia, all she really wants is to blend in, but she stands out for all the wrong reasons. Nurah’s accent, floral-print kurtas, and tea-colored skin make her feel excluded, and she’s left to eat lunch alone under the stairwell, until she meets Stahr at swimming tryouts. Stahr covers her body when in the water, just like Nurah, but for very different reasons.

But in the water Nurah doesn’t want to blend in: She wants to stand out. She wants to win medals like her star athlete brother, Owais—who is going through struggles of his own in America—yet when sibling rivalry gets in the way, she makes a split-second decision of betrayal that changes their fates.

As Nurah slowly begins to sprout wings in the form of strong swimming arms, she gradually gains the courage to stand up to bullies, fight for what she believes in, and find her place.

69. Yes No Maybe So by Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed

listened to andio borrowed through Bosler Library
narrated by Tiya Sircar and Michael Crouch
Unabridged audio (10:57)
2020 Balzer & Bray
436 pgs.
YA CRF
Finished 4/26/2020
Goodreads rating:  3.88 - 7299 ratings
My rating:  3
Setting: Contemporary summer in Georgia

First line/s:  " 'Oranges don't have nipples,' said Sophie."

My comments:  Super mixed feelings right now after finishing listening to this book.  There are two major concepts presented - both of which are triggers for me: the differences between liberal and conservative thinking, and deep-seeded cultural thoughts about religion that so goes against my grain,  Set in Georgia during the summer months between their junior and senior years, Jamie and Maya worked diligently for a Democratic campaign as they also fall in love.  It was hard for me to really like or even "get" May  because her thoughts - which were in her voice every other chapter - and her actions, which were in Jamie's voice every other chapter, just didn't seem to mesh at all.  I guess that's probably because two different authors wrote this and it just didn't seem like some of the responses to each others thoughts and actions meshed.  And Jamie seemed almost too good/nice to be true ALL THE TIME!  And how many kids would be allowed to hang out in the patio section of Target all the time for huge long periods?  Come on!  Lots of good stuff here, but lots of not-so-good stuff, too.

Goodreads synopsis:  New York Times bestselling authors Becky Albertalli and Aisha Saeed have crafted a resonant, funny, and memorable story about the power of love and resistance.

YES
Jamie Goldberg is cool with volunteering for his local state senate candidate—as long as he’s behind the scenes. When it comes to speaking to strangers (or, let’s face it, speaking at all to almost anyone), Jamie’s a choke artist. There’s no way he’d ever knock on doors to ask people for their votes…until he meets Maya.

NO
Maya Rehman’s having the worst Ramadan ever. Her best friend is too busy to hang out, her summer trip is canceled, and now her parents are separating. Why her mother thinks the solution to her problems is political canvassing—with some awkward dude she hardly knows—is beyond her.

MAYBE SO
Going door to door isn’t exactly glamorous, but maybe it’s not the worst thing in the world. After all, the polls are getting closer—and so are Maya and Jamie. Mastering local activism is one thing. Navigating the cross-cultural romance of the century is another thing entirely.

Books About Muslim Life and Experience

Picture Books:

Clever Ali (Farmer) 2006 (4.5) folktale
Four Feet, Two Sandals (Williams & Mohammed) 2007 (4)
Malala's Magic Pencil (Yousafzai) 2017 (5)
My First Ramadan (Katz) 2007 (4)
My Name is Bilal (Mobin-Uddin) 2005 (3)
Night of the Moon (Khan) 2008 (5) Ramadan
One Green Apple (Bunting) 2006 (5)
A Party in Ramadan (Mobin-Uddin) 2009 (4)
Silent Music (Rumford) 2008 (4.5)
Snow in Jerusalem (daCosta) 2001 (4)
Time to Pray (Addasi) 2010 (4.5)
Under My Hijab (Khan) 2019 (5)

Middle Grades:

Other Words for Home (Warga) 2019 (3)
Shadows of Ghadames (Stolz) 2005 (5)
Under the Persimmon Tree (Staples) 2005 (4)

Young Adult:

Internment (Ahmed) 2019 (2)
A Very Large Expanse of Sea (Mafi) 2018 (4.5)

Adult:

.

Movies:

A Most Wanted Man (set in Germany) 2014 (5.5)
Mustang (set in Turkey) 2015 (5)
Sabah, A Love Story (set in Canada) 2005

Picture Book - Under My Hijab by Hena Khan

Illustrated by Aaliya Jaleel
2019, Lee & Low Books

HC $17.95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.37 - 597 ratings

My rating:  5!!!
Endpapers: Bright Pink
Written in quatrains with the second and fourth lines rhyming.

1^st line/s:  "Grandma peeks into the oven
as a brown loaf of bread starts to rise
Her hijab is carefully folded,
like the crusts on my favorite pies."

My comments:  A more-than-excellent book, probably one of my favorites so far this year.  Should be read to all kids AND ADULTS!!!

Goodreads:  Grandma wears it clasped under her chin. Aunty pins hers up with a beautiful brooch. Jenna puts it under a sun hat when she hikes. Zara styles hers to match her outfit. As a young girl observes six very different women in her life who each wear the hijab in a unique way, she also dreams of the rich possibilities of her own future, and how she will express her own personality through her hijab. Written in sprightly rhyme and illustrated by a talented newcomer, Under My Hijab honors the diverse lives of contemporary Muslim women and girls, their love for each other, and their pride in their culture and faith.

80. Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga

listened to Audio - borrowed from the library
read by Vaneh Assadourian
Unabridged audio (3:50)
2019 Balzer & Bray
352 pgs.
Middle Grade CRF
Finished August 19, 2019
Goodreads rating:   4.48 - 1884 ratings
My rating: 3
Setting: Contemporary Syria, then US

First line/s:  "It is almost summer and everybody smells like fish,
except for right down by the sea
where if you hold your nose just right
you can smell the sprawling salt water and the jasmine
instead."

My comments:  I wish I'd read this instead of listened to it - the words in verse are so much more beautiful than listening to what sounds like prose.  The book seemed to end abruptly.  I wasn't expecting it because I was listening to it and it had not been very long - so much shorter because it's written in verse.  I found the first half of the book, the part that took place in Syria, to be a little bit slow going.  And I wish that it had given me a little more feel for the country of Syria.  It didn't.  Once they got to America the story became a little more interesting.  It was intriguing to think about how a newcomer to America would not realize the prejudice against Muslims.  I don't think I'd ever considered that point of view, particularly from an innocent young girl who only know of the strife in her country and being a Muslim was just part of every day for her.  Very character driven.  I wanted more setting!

Goodreads synopsis:  
I am learning how to be
sad
and happy
at the same time.
          Jude never thought she’d be leaving her beloved older brother and father behind, all the way across the ocean in Syria. But when things in her hometown start becoming volatile, Jude and her mother are sent to live in Cincinnati with relatives.
          At first, everything in America seems too fast and too loud. The American movies that Jude has always loved haven’t quite prepared her for starting school in the US—and her new label of “Middle Eastern,” an identity she’s never known before. But this life also brings unexpected surprises—there are new friends, a whole new family, and a school musical that Jude might just try out for. Maybe America, too, is a place where Jude can be seen as she really is.

Picture Book - Time to Pray by Maha Addasi

Illustrated by Ned Gannon

2010, Boyds Mill Press, Honesdale, PA

HC $17/95

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  .10 - 122 ratings

My rating:  4.5

1^st line/s:  "In the darkness, green lights winked at me from the minaret of the nearby mosque.  I heard the voice of the muezzin calling, 'Come to pray, come to pray.'  It was my first night at Grandma's house."

My comments:  Young Yasmin goes to visit her grandmother in a Middle eastern country (doesn't say which one). It looks like she goes all by herself!   Impressive....  She hears the call to prayer five times a day, and her grandmother teaches her all about the different prayers and rituals surrounding them, makes her a "proper" outfit for praying, and takes her to the mosque.  Each double-page spread includes a page of English text and the Arabic translation.  When she returns home (to America, I'm guessing - or maybe Canada), she shares her new knowledge with her parents and feels continually connected to her grandmother when she looks at the miniature mosque that Teta sent home with her.  There's an explanation of the five praryer times at the end of the book.  The illustrations are gorgeous - no white at all.  One of our  visiting Muslim families, when returning the book, told me they've taken this book out several times for their 4 and 6-year-old kids and really enjoy it.

Goodreads:  Yasmin is visiting her grandmother, who lives in a country somewhere in the Middle East. On her first night, she's wakened by the muezzin at the nearby mosque calling the faithful to prayer, and Yasmin watches from her bed as her grandmother prepares to pray. A visit with Grandmother is always special, but this time it is even more so. Her grandmother makes Yasmin prayer clothes, buys her a prayer rug, and teaches her the five prayers that Muslims perform over the course of a day. When it's time for Yasmin to board a plane and return home, her grandmother gives her a present that her granddaughter opens when she arrives: a prayer clock in the shape of a mosque, with an alarm that sounds like a muezzin calling the faithful to prayer. Maha Addasi's warm and endearing story is richly illustrated by Ned Gannon. Features a text in English and Arabic, and includes an author's note and glossary.

44. A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tehereh Mafi

Listened to audio on Chirp
read by Priya Ayyar
Unabridged audio (6:43)
2018 Harper Teen
310 pgs.
YA
Finished 5/14/2019
Goodreads rating:4.30 - 13,629 ratings
My rating:  4.5
Setting:  2002 anywhere America

First line/s:  "We always seemed to be moving, always for the better, always to make our lives better, whatever."

My comments:  What an exceptionally written story!  Set about a year after 911, from the point of view of a 16-year-old Muslim American girl who has decided to wear a hijab, even though people's reactions are unbelievably cruel.  Shirin is the new girl in a new school, trying to be invisible, but with sassy responses whenever anyone gives her a hard time, which is frequent.  She doesn't take any shit from anyone.  Her only friends are the three guys who hang out with her older, senior-year brother, and who she joins in creating a break-dancing routine.  Then along comes a guy named Ocean.  And the story twists and turns from there.  Twists and turns in a very believable way.  Watching these two characters grow and change and really use the lessons their lives are throwing at them is a treat.  So well written!

Goodreads synopsis:  It’s 2002, a year after 9/11. It’s an extremely turbulent time politically, but especially so for someone like Shirin, a sixteen-year-old Muslim girl who’s tired of being stereotyped.
          Shirin is never surprised by how horrible people can be. She’s tired of the rude stares, the degrading comments—even the physical violence—she endures as a result of her race, her religion, and the hijab she wears every day. So she’s built up protective walls and refuses to let anyone close enough to hurt her. Instead, she drowns her frustrations in music and spends her afternoons break-dancing with her brother.
          But then she meets Ocean James. He’s the first person in forever who really seems to want to get to know Shirin. It terrifies her—they seem to come from two irreconcilable worlds—and Shirin has had her guard up for so long that she’s not sure she’ll ever be able to let it down.

43. Internment by Samira Ahmed

listened on Audible
read by Soneela Nankani
Unabridged audio (11:17)
2019 Hachette Audio/Little Brown Books for Young Readers
387 pgs.
YA CRF (I cannot call it anything else!)
Finished Sat. May 11, 2019
Goodreads rating:  4.05 - 2128 ratings
My rating: 2
Setting: Contemporary California

First line/s:  "I strain to listen for boots on the pavement.  Stomping.  Marching."

My comments:  Well, I'm going to go against the general flow of raving reviews for this book.  I had many problems with it and I'm not exactly sure how to put my finger on all of them, but I'll try.  However, I do want to say that the premise of this book is spectacular, and very, very timely. 
          I think the author tried, but her writing style and character development didn't work.  And there were so many things included that were hard to believe and so many things not included that needed to be.  (A few possible small spoilers follow.)  Layla's insta-relationship with Jake?  Smuggling her boyfriend in and out of a prison camp - more than once?  NO adults other than an 80-year-old woman with any gumption to say or do anything?  Spending copious time with a prison guard, including in a female prisoner's bedroom, amid cameras and drones and constant surveillance without ever being spotted?  Unfortunately I could go on and on and I haven't even touched on the character development!  Layla's (or the author's) long, drawn out thinking about situations actually work to slow down any action that takes place.  Too much tell, not nearly enough show.  Again, a great premise for a book, but its execution didn't work at all for me. Big sigh.

Goodreads synopsis:  Rebellions are built on hope. 
          Set in a horrifying near-future United States, seventeen-year-old Layla Amin and her parents are forced into an internment camp for Muslim American citizens.
          With the help of newly made friends also trapped within the internment camp, her boyfriend on the outside, and an unexpected alliance, Layla begins a journey to fight for freedom, leading a revolution against the internment camp's Director and his guards.
          Heart-racing and emotional, Internment challenges readers to fight complicit silence that exists in our society today. 

PICTURE BOOK - Malala's Magic Pencil by Malal Yousafzai

Illustrated by Kerascoet (a husband wife team)

2017, Little Brown & Co.
HC $17.99
40 pgs.

Goodreads rating:  4.47 - 777 ratings

My rating:  5

Endpapers:  BOTH sides are a burst of journal and pencil in white on shiny gold background

Illustrations:  Edge-of-page to edge-of page, though lots of white is used in the background

1^st line/s:  "When I was younger, I used to watch a TV show about a boy who had a magic pencil."

My comments:  A biography/memoir for young kids, written by Malala herself.  It's a gentle story of hope and dreams, touching on the ugliness of what happened to her but not dwelling on it.  The illustrations are magical, with lots of shiny gold used throughout and on the endpapers.  Highly recommended.

Goodreads: Nobel Peace Prize winner and New York Times bestselling author Malala Yousafzai's first picture book, inspired by her own childhood.
          Malala's first picture book will inspire young readers everywhere to find the magic all around them.
          As a child in Pakistan, Malala made a wish for a magic pencil. She would use it to make everyone happy, to erase the smell of garbage from her city, to sleep an extra hour in the morning. But as she grew older, Malala saw that there were more important things to wish for. She saw a world that needed fixing. And even if she never found a magic pencil, Malala realized that she could still work hard every day to make her wishes come true. 
          This beautifully illustrated volume tells Malala's story for a younger audience and shows them the worldview that allowed Malala to hold on to hope even in the most difficult of times.

PICTURE BOOK - Snow in Jerusalem by Deborah da Costa

Illustrated by Cornelius VanWright & Ying-Hwa Hu

2001, Albert Whitman Co.

Only available new, in paper, $6.99

32 pgs.

Goodreads rating:3.58 - 65 ratings

My rating: 4

Endpapers:  an illustration:  the walled city, with a golden-domed building on the other side of the wall

Illustrations cover both pages, and the text is on top of the illustration, no white edges!

1^st line/s:  "In the walled old city of Jerusalem, which some call the Center of the Universe, Avi waited."

My comments: I didn't realize there are four ethnic/cultural sections in Jerusalem - Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armenian.  In this story, two boys from different cultures - Jewish and Muslim - find common ground because of a stray cat who "befriends" them both.

Goodreads:  Avi and Hamudi are two boys who live in Jerusalem's Old City -- Avi in the Jewish Quarter and Hamudi in the Muslim Quarter. To each boy, the other's neighborhood is an alien land. And although neither boy knows it, both are caring for the same beautiful white stray cat.One day the boys follow the cat as she travels the winding streets and crosses the boundaries between the city's quarters. And on this journey something wonderful happens, as unexpected as a snowfall in Jerusalem.

MOVIE - Mustang

Nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2016 Academy Awards
PG-13

Wide release 11/20/15

Viewed 1/19/16 at the Loft with Sheila

RT Critic: 97   Audience:  89
Critic's Consensus:  Mustang delivers a bracing -- and thoroughly timely -- message whose power is further bolstered by the efforts of a stellar ensemble cast.

Cag:  5/Loved it

Directed by Deniz Gamze Erguven (a female!)

CG Cinema (at the end of the credits it said FRANCE, GERMANY, TURKEY

In Turkish with subtitles

Actors were AMAZING!

My comments:  It took place in Turkey and was in Turkish.  It told a great (though sad) story.  The acting was superb.  Getting a chance to glimpse a little bit Turkey once again was fantastic.  Watching it with a friend: extra special.  Loved this movie!

RT Summary:  Early summer in a village in Northern Turkey. Five free-spirited teenaged sisters splash about on the beach with their male classmates. Though their games are merely innocent fun, a neighbor passes by and reports what she considers to be illicit behavior to the girls' family. The family overreacts, removing all "instruments of corruption," like cell phones and computers, and essentially imprisoning the girls, subjecting them to endless lessons in housework in preparation for them to become brides. As the eldest sisters are married off, the younger ones bond together to avoid the same fate. The fierce love between them empowers them to rebel and chase a future where they can determine their own lives in Deniz Gamze Ergüven's debut, a powerful portrait of female empowerment.

MOVIE - A Most Wanted Man

R (2:01)
Limited release 7/25/2014
El Con with Sheila First Day of School 8/7/2014
RT Critic:  90    Audience:  71
cag: 5.5 - Hard to say you "love" such a sad story, but it was amazingly done
Directed by Anton Corbijn
Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions
based on a book by John leCarre

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Defoe, Robin Wright, Grigory Dobrygin

My thoughts:  As I was watching the amazing Philip Seymour Hoffman, I kept remembering that this was his last film.  He was brilliant; nonstop smoking, drinking, thinking...caring.  It was the kind of story that unfolds, makes you attend carefully so that you can figure out what's going on.  You begin to see into each of the characters; their motivations, their stories.  It was amazingly done.  I don't know much about directing and exactly what it is that a director does to make this sort of characterization jump out at you, but this amateur movie-watcher is guessing that Mr. Corbijn did a terrific job.

RT Summary:  When a half-Chechen, half-Russian, brutally tortured immigrant turns up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill-gotten fortune, both German and US security agencies take a close interest: as the clock ticks down and the stakes rise, the race is on to establish this most wanted man's true identity - oppressed victim or destruction-bent extremist?

8. Under the Persimmon Tree - Suzanne Fisher Staples

for: Middle Grades
Frances Foster Bks, Farrar Strauss & Giroux, 2005
HC, $17.00
275 pgs.
My rating: 4

This was a very interesting book, detailing, so sadly, some of the atrocities that have (and possible still are?) taking place under the Taliban in Afghanistan. This story has TWO interesting perspectives. We flip-flop, chapter by chapter, between an American woman living in Peshiwar and an Afghani girls fleeing from her destroyed home in the mountains. Both stories are heartbreaking.

It looks like Najmah has lost her whole family to the Taliban or American bombs. The 12-year old is rescued by fleeing neighbors, disguised as a boy, and set out on a difficult journey to the refugee camps on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. There is no food, little warmth or shelter, and a deep, deep sadness. Najmah stops talking, but uses her wits and determination to continue.

Nusrat has accompanied her doctor-husband from New York City to Pakistan so that he can help. She has converted to Islam, loves Faiz' family (who love and accept her) and has opened a school for refugee kids while she waits for him to return to her from the war zone, where he is working in clinics.

Najmah and Nusrat's stories progress until they come together. Incredibly sad, but an honest look at what's been going on for the last ten years in Afghanistan, to the population and particularly to the women.

There hasn't been a whole lot written (yet) for kids about what's been going on over there. I am so thankful for books like this. However, I'm such a Breadwinner (Deborah Ellis) fan that I must admit as much as I like Staples' work, I prefer Breadwinner over Under the Persimmon Tree and would recommend it first.

Such unbelievable despair. A whole country of people who have lost entire families, traditions, history, and freedom.

A Party in Ramadan - Asma Mobin-Uddin

Illustrated by Laura Jacobsen
Boyds Mill Press, PA 2009
$16.95
32 pages
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Neighborhood homes morning/evening

This is the story of fasting on Ramadan and the acceptance a young girls finds when she is invited to a birthday party by her non-Muslim friends. This first day (ever?) of fasting is not easy, but the benefits and the evening meal are worth it.

Lovely soft illustrations emphasize and illustrate without being preachy.

An author's note discusses Ramadan and about wearing the Hijab (head covering.)

MOVIE - Sabah, A Love Story

Delightful - my kind of movie
Released 2005, Canadian Indie
NR (1:30)
Netflix
RT: Not Rated cag: 88%
Director: Ruba Nabba

A wonderful, heart-warming movie about an Arab-Canadian family that is learning that to hang on to their Muslim culture does not mean that they have to abandon the life and norms that they've found in Canada. Sabah, a 40-year old unmarried daughter stays home and "takes care" of her mother. Her sister, no husband that we see, is raising an 18-year old daughter that wants to CHOOSE her husband, not be set up with one by her family. Her brother is the "boss" since her father died many years before. His marriage (which, coincidentally, is one of love and not match-making) looks rocky.

And then Sabah meets Stephen, a Canadian furniture-maker, a really decent, good-looking guy. Slowly she lets her guard down enough to talk to him, and they discover they really enjoy each other. It's a wonderful, real, slow-moving courtship, which it would be in reality, which makes it totally believable. You hope against hope that all will work out for these seemingly star-crossed lovers, but good sense and good humor make this work work work. I really enjoyed it - a lot. (And yes, it had a wonderful, feel-good, giggle-out-loud-with-relief ending.....)

The Canadian actor who played Stephen, Shawn Doyle, was wonderful - and adorable. It looks like he's been a somewhat-regular on HBO's Big Love.

My First Ramadan - Karen Katz

Henry Holt & Company, 2007
$14.95
24 pages
For: young kids
Rating: 4
Endpapers: Wide vertical stripes with different colors and designs,

Karen Katz is a folksy artist that I like very much. If the illustration is not a two-page spread, the single page of writing has a wide vertical strip along the edge (like a border) that compliments and finishes the page beautifully. She depicts Muslims of every color, ethnicity, and level of involvement. "I see Muslims from Asia, Europe, Africa, Australia, North America, and South America."

In clear, simple language Karen Katz describes the annual Muslim month of Ramadan; the customs and reasons behind it. From the point-of-view of an early elementary boy, she describes his day, the fasting from sunup to sundown, the meals, and the three-day festival at the end, Eid al-Fitr. I worked for two years with many Muslims, enjoyed many meals - including during Ramadan, but this simple book gave me more information and insight than I had during those two years. Thanks, Karen Katz!

Ramadan this year was from August 21 - September 19th.
In 2010 it will begin on August 11th and end on September 9th.

Clever Ali - Nancy Farmer

Illustrator: Gail de Marcken
For: Kids with the ability for sit for a longer read aloud
2006
Rating: 4.5
Endpapers: intricate brown & white scenes covering the page completely






Preface:
from In Praise of Books

A book is a garden you can hold in your hand,
An orchard you can take on your lap.

A book is a companion who sleeps
Only when you are asleep,
and speaks only when you wish him to

A book is a tree that lives long
And bears delicious and abundant fruit
That is easy to pick and perfectly ripe
At all tiimes of the year.

A book obeys you by night and by day,
Abroad and at home,
It has no need of sleep
And does not grow weary from sittting up.

-----Al-Jahiz
-----born in Basra in 776

The illustrations and text are all framed. de Marcken uses patterns from mosaics, woodwork, plaster, and marble from Cairo's mosques and Islamic antiquities. Calligraphic symbols are part of some of the framing. Very detailed, very lovely.

The story takes us into the two-wife household of the sultan's royal carrier pigeon keeper - a very important and prestigious job. Ali has four younger brothers and when he turns seven he moves from the women's part of the house to the men's part of the house. He also goes to work at the palace with his father to learn how to tend the pigeons. The story unfolds the same as one of Jahazarad's Arabian Night Tales would - with elements of magic and cruelty, where ingeniousness is needed to get out of a life-threatening jam. It's a long story, so well-suited for older readers and listeners.

My Name is Bilal - Asma Mobin-Uddin

Illutrator: Barbara Kiwok
Published: 2005
Rating: 3
Endpapers: Bright Yellow

When Bilal and his sister move to a new town from Chicago, they realize they are the only Muslim kids at their school. Afraid of being bullied, Bilal claims his name is Bill and doesn't stand up for his sister when a bully tries to pull off her head scarf. His teacher, Mr. Ali, was an old friend of his father's and meets Bilal at the mosque with a gift of a book about an ancient Bilal. After reading the book and having a dream where he is put into the same situation as his ancient namesake, he decides to be himself. Miraculously a situation appears where he can make friends with the bully (you realize the the "miraculously" is tongue-in-cheek....) and he meets an older, respected student who is a Muslim and stops playing basketball to pray.

There's lots of information about the religion, but the story itself is not particularly clever or believable.

Barbara Kiwok's illustrations are lovely, in most cases covering about 2/3 of the two-page spread from edge-to-edge. The text is on the remaining white third of the page. In the middle of the book there are two pages with no illustrations - only texxt - on the bright yellow color of the endpapers. I don't think I recall this happening in any other picture book. I wonder why?

Overall: Weak story, but excellent information woven in, with lovely illustrations.