Abdul's story:
Are you an educator?
Homeschooler? Teacher? Or a tired parent who is really struggling with your child's writing skills?
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Being a writer and homeschooler myself, I can relate with Abdul who is always struggling with silent Es, sometimes tenses, spellings and for sure we want to erase whatever we wrote down yesterday or a few hours ago.
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I loved to see Mr Muhammad and his teaching passion to encourage Abdul to keep writing and never give up. The illustrations are so beautiful.
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Being an ESL instructor for 6+ years, this book reminded me about my students who were really afraid of English because of several rules and it was one of the toughest languages for them. I wish I had this book back then but will definitely keep it alone in my new ESL classrooms.
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Definitely a must in my Black Muslim kids' books collection and I'll highly recommend this book. Simple but heart touching.
"๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฎ๐ฆ" said Muhammad Sadiq to hoyo.
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What a pleasant surprise to have these 2 newly released books in Sadiq series. Sadiq and the gamers and Sadiq and the Big elections.
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๐๐จ๐ญ๐: mention of death in Sadiq and gamers.
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As a boy's mom I always look for books that can inspire my sons, where they can see themselves and the Sadiq series is one of them. Sadiq is Somali boy who lives with his big ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ข ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ ๐๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฒ. It's ideal for intermediate or advanced readers ages 7+ to practice their reading skills. I loved Sadiq with his contact glasses which is definitely big support for all those kids wearing contact glasses and get bullied.
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Working as volunteer with elderly people, standing against your friend in elections and still be friends, having lots of Islamic phrases as well as Somali words. Each book comes with, glossary of difficult words, crafts, some discussion questions and writing practice at the end. Diverse characters and girls wearing Hijab. So much stuff suitable for this age group. Just love Sadiq 
Room for everyone:
To create room for someone, all you need is some wiggles, some giggles and space in your heart 
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๐๐จ๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ isย to teach young children about numbers in super cute funny way which not only teaches them their counting but also very important lesson how to be kind and share space with others.
Musa and his Dada went on Daladala and their driver saw some people on his way who were walking with lots of stuff in heat and sun. So, he offered them a ride. Despite Musa's protest that there wasn't enough space in their ride, his Dada always comforted him by saying there is some till they reached their destination.
If you are teacher or homeschooler, I would highly recommend this rhyming number book in your lesson plans to have some fun reading. For me this book was nostalgic because I have experienced such ride in Pakistani village (yes, I traveled with goats and hens' side by side)
The scene that my kids enjoyed the most was the end, where once everyone reached the last stop, they came out of the Dalaladala and were doing stretches
I'm Muhammad Ali:
"๐ ๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐ญ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐" said Muhammad Ali who became Muslim which means his religion was Islam.
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My favorite sentence from this book ๐ ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ก๐๐ฆ๐ฆ๐๐ ๐๐ฅ๐ข is biography written for kids and its comic style caught my attention (Let's keep this debate at side for now that Boxing is permissible game or not because this picture for kids is teaching something else).
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Note: nose bleeding and blue eyes are shown but not prominent.
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I have seen few books about Muhammad Ali and most of them left me with disappointment where authors either completely tried to hide the fact that he was Black Muslim revert by saying "he changed his name". Why? They didn't bother to mention it which was quite sad for me.
Starting from his birth to heavy weight champion, his struggle to raise his voice against laws for Black people in this book really fills you with enthusiasm, passion and resilience. To tell people that you are Muslim wasn't very easy for him and he declared his independence in an interview in front of media at time when athletes weren't supposed to talk about their faith. He changed that brutal support of boxing into science.
"๐'๐ฎ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ฏ, ๐'๐ฎ ๐๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐ช๐ฎ ๐๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐บ, ๐ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ข๐ญ". He had dyslexia where he struggled with reading and interpreting words and was afraid to fly as well. These facts can definitely bring lots of motivation in kids that it's ok if they are born differently and nervous sometimes. Women in hijab, men with head coving "kufis" is making this book very special for Muslim kids.
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I usually don't read autobiographies because they are "boring books" for my kids but this book is very different. Trust me, I read it a few times so far and every time I just loved it. The end of this book contains his memorable pictures and his timeline.
Deep in the Sahara:
What a pleasant surprise to get another hijab book in my hands. Why I wear ๐๐๐๐๐/๐๐๐ก๐๐๐? This book is written in rhyming style, from the perspective of 7 years old girl who was looking for answer of her question "why women wear hijab/Malafa?".
To look mysterious?
To look like a lady?
To look like a long-ago queen?
Malafa/Hijab is more than all of the above.
Scene is set in ๐๐๐ช๐ง๐๐ฉ๐๐ฃ๐๐, ๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฉ ๐ผ๐๐ง๐๐๐ where you can see desert life along with animals starting from camels, bats, scorpion, donkey dates, masjid and mud houses.
Call for prayer and men gathering in masjid while women prayer inside their houses teaches several lessons to Muslim child.
It contains glossary of difficult words at the end along with the author's note which is worth reading.
If you are homeschooler and planning your lesson about African Muslims or Black Muslims, I would highly recommend this book.
Little Brother for Sale:
After flipping through first few pages the very first thing that came in my mind was the story of ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฉ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐.๐ with the following verse from Quran:
ย "๐พ๐๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ ๐ข๐ (๐ฝ๐๐ ๐๐โ) ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ก โ๐๐ ๐๐ข๐ก ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ (๐๐กโ๐๐) ๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐กโ๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฆ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐ ๐ก๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ก๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ก ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐ค๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐โ๐ก๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐ (๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ก๐ก๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐ ๐ ๐๐)." (Quran).
Asma becomes fed up with her younger brother Hamzaโs annoying little ways. She decides enough is enough and puts her little brother up for sale. Hamza steals her food, pulls her hair and always takes her parents' attention. She is doing something amazingly brilliant. She makes different plans to get rid of him and offers him to different people including postman and her neighbor but soon she starts blessings of having Hamza when she had to finish her blue berries herself.
Her facial expressions are so real that your older sibling can totally relate (๐ฆ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐กโ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ก ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐).
Diverse Muslim characters, super cute 3D vibrant illustrations and beautiful color scheming increased the beauty of this book. A beautiful book that shows the feelings of an older child and the moral of the story is totally priceless. Islamic phrases being used in book throughout e.g. ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฆ ๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐ค๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ ๐ง๐๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ก๐จ๐จ๐.
Siblings' jealousy is natural especially when your last child is promoted to the status of โolder siblingโ.
๐๐๐๐
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๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐
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๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฑ๐ด๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ค๐ต๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ด๐๐ค๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ญ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ด๐ซ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ค๐ญ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ๐๐ฐ๐ท๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ช๐ค ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ช๐ด๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ has made mine and your zaid grew their clouds of grief, disappointment, depression and anxiety darker and dense. Every passing day feels like a "bad day". It's getting more and more difficult for them to lift their heads with all those gigantic clouds gathered around..
๐โ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐ก๐๐๐๐๐โ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ โ๐๐๐โ๐๐ฆ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐..
Then definitely "๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐" is the book we need to keep along to make our Zaids go through these tough times.
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How to feel grateful from all these sad situations, this book is definitely a very good practice for kids to reflect upon it. Along with this there are questions mentioned on the last page which helps them practice language skills too e.g. ๐ข๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฃ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐๐ฌ and make sentences of their own from ๐๐ข๐๐๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ฅ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฌ mentioned in the book.
So, I would say it's not just a story book but a great resource for kids ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก and good resource for our homeschool Alhamdulillah.
๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ณ๐๐ข๐'๐ฌ ๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฎ๐?
My Kufi Book:
Living in west with diverse people from different religions we are learning about our unique identity. We identify Muslims through their unique dressing while Masjids through their crescent and moon on minarets (because Roman Catholic churches confuses us).
Here we found this amazing book that discusses this uniqueness in a similar way. Jaysh was young Muslim child who loves to wear his hat. One day he found another Muslim girl in a shop but she didnโt notice him. He discussed this matter with his mother. On asking he told his mother about her Khimar/Hijab. His mother asked him about his unique identity to be seen as a Muslim he found himself puzzled and sad. He didnโt like his "๐๐ฎ๐๐ข" that his mother brought for him. He discussed this matter with his father who made him feel happy by telling him "๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ค๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐". So, his father brought him one of his own choices.
Incomplete faces, black courageous child are amongst the unique features of this book. It gives you an opportunity to discuss different kind of head wears with your child including ๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐, ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ซ as well.
๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ gave us opportunity to discuss the unique "kufis" across the Muslim majority continents. We will definitely use this book as an educational resource while studying continents in us homeschool InshaAllah. Ideal book to build confidence in Muslim kids about their unique clothing. It has many Arabic terms and Muslim manners as well.
Here we found this amazing book that discusses this uniqueness in a similar way. Jaysh was young Muslim child who loves to wear his hat. One day he found another Muslim girl in a shop but she didnโt notice him. He discussed this matter with his mother. On asking he told his mother about her Khimar/Hijab. His mother asked him about his unique identity to be seen as a Muslim he found himself puzzled and sad. He didnโt like his "๐๐ฎ๐๐ข" that his mother brought for him. He discussed this matter with his father who made him feel happy by telling him "๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ค๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐". So, his father brought him one of his own choices.
Incomplete faces, black courageous child are amongst the unique features of this book. It gives you an opportunity to discuss different kind of head wears with your child including ๐๐๐๐ง๐ข๐, ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐ง๐ ๐ค๐ฎ๐๐ข๐ฆ๐๐ซ as well.
๐ด๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ gave us opportunity to discuss the unique "kufis" across the Muslim majority continents. We will definitely use this book as an educational resource while studying continents in us homeschool InshaAllah. Ideal book to build confidence in Muslim kids about their unique clothing. It has many Arabic terms and Muslim manners as well.
Toronto Public Library FREE pdf:
Being as resident of Toronto, Canada, I'm grateful to have every possible book available to borrow, read with my kids and enjoy. I've spent 3 years searching for every possible book at the library and have prepared FREE pdf that is available for downloadย here.
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Note: All pictures are self-taken by Earth Custodians and can't be used without her permission.