Dear Muslim Child -- Children's Book Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Do you teach your children about different religions? When Hazel was young, we learned a bit about various religions. I feel like she should know about them for two reasons. First, she may meet someone who is that religion and I want her to be respectful. Second, I feel like when she is old enough to choose her religion, she should know about all of them. Today I am going to share a book written for Muslim children and children who want to learn a bit about Islam. The book was released this week. It is Dear Muslim Child by Rahma Rodaah and illustrated by Aya Ghanameh. It is recommended for ages 4 to 8. 

Queen Goharshad -- Brave with Beauty -- a Multicultural Children's Book Day Review

 

Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Have you ever heard of Queen Goharshad? She was queen of Khorashan back in the 1400s. Khorashan was in present day Afghanistan, Iran and Turkey. She is remembered for the buildings she built including the Goharshad Mosque (in present day Iran) and for supporting the arts. Today I get to share with you a wonderful picture book based on this amazing woman and her accomplishments. The book is called Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan by Maxine Rose Schur with art by Patricia Grush, Robin Dewitt, and Golsa Yaghoobi. It is recommended for ages 7 to 9.

Ramadan in Singapore -- Ramadan for Kids, Global Learning for Kids & Asian Pacific American Heritage Blogs Series & Giveaway

For my final 2016 post for Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month I thought I would combine it with our Global Learning for Kids exploration of Singapore and kick off our Ramadan for Kids Blog Hop. Did you know about 15% of the Singapore population is Muslim (according to 2010 statistics)? There are 69 mosques in Singapore.  (Source) The Sultan Mosque or Masjid Sultan is considered one of the most important mosques in Singapore.

Nightfall at Sultan Mosque By Erwin Soo from Singapore, Singapore [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Exploring Hajj with Books at Home

 Disclosure: Tuttle Publishing gave me a copy of this book free of charge for this review. All opinions in my review are my own and I did not receive any other compensation. They also sent me a copy to giveaway! As in all my reviews I am providing links for your ease, but receive no compensation.

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Hajj for Kids Blog Series. As we are Christian I did not know much about Hajj. I knew that Muslims try to make the hajj at least once in their lives and that it involved visiting Mecca. As a member of Multicultural Kid Blogs I learn new things about other cultures through the group and one thing I found out was there is actually a time in the year called Hajj when the trip is suppose to take place. This year Hajj falls between September 21-26. It of course changes each year since the Muslim calendar is different from our calendar. To explain Hajj to Hazel and myself, I turned to our library. I did not find much. However we did find Hajj Stories by Anita Ganeri.

Math from the Middle East: Middle Eastern & Northern Africa Blog Series and Giveaway

This post is part of the Multicultural Kid Blogs' Middle Eastern and Northern African Heritage Month Blog Series and Giveaway. To enter the giveaway scroll to the bottom. I thought I would continue my look at multicultural mathematics by looking at some of the Middle Eastern mathematicians and mathematics from the Middle East. Unfortunately I was not able to find books that shared this information that Hazel could understand. I am sharing a bit about a few mathematicians and lessons to go with their discoveries as well as a bit on Islamic art and lessons as well.

Sharing Saturday 15-25

Thank you to everyone who shared last week!! Hazel and I have been enjoying her first week of summer vacation with a short trip to Cape Cod to see my parents. This week's features include some ideas for Father's Day (this Sunday in the U.S.), educational posts and some other favorites. Remember this is just a sampling of what was shared last week, so go back and check out the other great ones!!

Exploring Ramadan

We are participating in the Multicultural Kid Blogs Ramadan for Kids Series. This is our post for the series. As a Christian family, we do not know much about Ramadan except that it lasts a month and includes fasting. So our first step was to find out more about the holiday. We started with a DVD from the Holidays for Children series called Ramadan.

It is an older video we found at our library. It explains the holiday and some of the why for the holiday. It also shared a craft that was similar to the craft on In the Playroom: Watercoulour Mosque Silohouette Pictures. So we did not do this one. Next we read some books from the library.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures: Snow White: An Islamic Tale

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This week I am sharing Snow White: An Islamic Tale by Fawzia Gilani. Similar to her version of Cinderella, this picture book was created to teach children about the Islamic religion. It is an adaptation of the original story. I love how she intertwines the Islamic culture into the story and then offers a glossary at the end. I feel it is so important for all of us to understand one another's beliefs so we can find ways to get along and live in peace and want Hazel to understand others as well.

In this version, the wealthy couple has everything they want, except a child. On snowy day the wife falls asleep and dreams of a little girl and when she awakens she makes a du'a to have such a child with the patience of Job, peace of dawn and heart as pure as snow. Within a year she has a daughter and she remembers her dream and prayer on the snowy day and names her Snow White. The family is very happy and they teach Snow White all about their religion and her mother gives her a copy of the Qur'an. By the time Snow White is ten, her mother falls ill and dies. 

Although they find comfort in the Qur'an, Snow White's father wants her to be happier and hopes having the love of a mother again will do it, so he remarries. His new wife is very beautiful and at first she is kind, but soon she starts to mistreat Snow White. When Snow White's father says something about the mistreatment, he mysteriously becomes ill and dies. After his death, the stepmother no longer shows any kindness. She is very vain and asks her jinn (a being created from smokeless fire living in an alternate dimension on earth) who is the fairest of all. The answer is always her until one day the jinn says her beauty cannot compare to Snow White's. At this the stepmother is jealous and angry and calls for a huntsman to kill Snow White and bring back her heart and liver for the stepmother to eat. 

The huntsman tells Snow White what he must do or the stepmother will kill him. She begs him not to kill her and then a wild boar comes by. He kills the boar instead and brings its heart and liver to the stepmother. Snow White runs into the forest and keeps running until she finds a small cottage. No one answers when she knocks and she collapses on the porch into a deep sleep. 

At sundown the residents of the cottage return home. They are seven dwarf women. They find Snow White sleeping and bring her into their cottage. When she awakens she is frightened, but they are kind and introduce themselves. Each has a special quality to their character: wise, brave, forgiving, just, generous, patient, and kind. Snow White finally opens up and tells them her story. They tell her she shall stay with them and they will protect her. Each dwarf teaches Snow White their special skills that go with their characteristic and through the years she mastered them all. 

One year, the stepmother asked the jinn again about who is the fairest and it answered again Snow White. Again she became jealous and angry. She asked the jinn where Snow White was and found out about the cottage with the dwarfs. It was the month of Ramadan and the stepmother prepared some poisonous dates for Snow White. It is wrong to refuse dates to break your fast during Ramadan, so Snow White took them and of course fell to the ground. At this time the dwarfs were coming home and the brave one ran after the stepmother and caught a glimpse of her. The dwarfs took turns taking care of the sleeping Snow White. 

One day a prince came riding by. He saw one of the dwarfs out with the sleeping Snow White. After hearing about Snow White from all the dwarfs he dropped to his knee and recited the Fatiha (the opening chapter of the Qur'an). He then said he would send his mother, the Queen, to visit Snow White. The Queen came with a doctor. Every day the doctor gave Snow White the cordial and every day Snow White stirred a little more. One day she finally opened her eyes. 

The dwarfs were so happy to have Snow White awake. They sent news to the Queen. She came immediately and asked the dwarfs to permit Snow White to marry her son. They agreed. The King and Queen invited many people to the wedding including the stepmother. The day of the wedding the stepmother happened to ask the jinn again and found out the bride to be was Snow White. She comes up with another plan to kill her once and for all. She makes a poisonous comb. The brave dwarf recognizes her and tries to kick her out of the building, but the stepmother locks her in a room and then goes to find Snow White. She disguised herself as a servant and claimed that the Queen had sent her to help with Snow White's hair. However when the vain stepmother saw one of her own hair's out of place, she put the comb to her own head and she fell to the ground. A doctor was sent for and she was attended to during the wedding. 

A few days later the stepmother woke up and was shocked to see Snow White wearing a crown. Snow White told her she would forgive her and recited a verse from the Qur'an. The stepmother recovered and was said to never look in a mirror again. Snow White, the prince and the dwarfs lived happily ever after.

Fairy Tales in Different Cultures--Fawzia Gilani's Cinderella: An Islamic Tale

Since the Islamic holiday, Ramadan, began a few weeks ago, I thought it was the perfect time to look at the Islamic version of Cinderella. Now, I had planned to share this last week, but with all the exciting things happening last week (Virtual Book Club for Kids, Around the World in 12 Dishes and the Multicultural Kids Blog Pinterest Scavenger Hunt began), we did not get it done. First a little information about Ramadan.