Muslim Asian American Middle grade books:
Bhai for Now:
When you have a twin brother and you meet him one casual day, a complete stranger, different personality can truly happen because of Dua. Get ready to laugh and wipe away some tears.
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Note: Mentions of flute, concert, songs, jinn, Pakistani drama, Girlfriend etc.
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Ashar and Shaheer, twins by birth and separated at a young age, never knew till the age of 12 when they met each other and took some time to accept this reality, later work on it.
Parents aren't perfect yet they want us to be the best and are always there to encourage and support us.
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Having different personalities and religious beliefs can sometimes to Divorce but it does affect children. But it's never too late to fix your mistakes, and come back to good terms at least for your kids because it's not their fault after all that they were born in such circumstances where their birth became one major reason for divorce.
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Where I loved seeing both brothers working on themselves to learn each other's personalities, interests, families, relatives with the help of Zohra their cousin, I also appreciate the struggle of their parents at the end to create soft corner for their missing child.
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Halal food, praying Jummah in masjid, reading Quran and doing volunteer work at the masjid with lots of Urdu words made this novel home for me. I'm sure this book can help youth due to increased divorce rate during covid.
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Though mom is shown religious but there isn't any mention of hijab in it.
Author's note is worth reading at the end and I'm Glad that she made with so many obstacles in her way. Yes, it's not easy to write down the 2nd book after your 1st one.
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I will suggest using Abu instead of Dad, because Dad and Dada look same, I mixed them a lot.
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Amazing summer read.
Nura and the Immortal Palace:
Not all jinns are bad.
Some are Muslim jinns who celebrate Eid Al Adha.
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Note: Mention of Magic, jinn and jinn possession, dance, songs, casino mention of romance but in clean Jinn way. I think mention of these things make sense completely to the world of Jinn and Demons and how they fest and trick humans.
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With Eid Al Adha coming closer, I highly recommend this newly released book for every child's Eid gift bag because it deserves it.
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𝐍𝐮𝐫𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 realm of jinn a fantasy book that will leave you crave to eat at least one Glub Jaman till the end. Not spooky jinn book at all but rather the opposite. You will find yourself laughing, eating nihari, gulab Jaman, Azan, prayers, Dupatta, Chai and enjoying parties after parties while reciting Ayat Al Kursi.
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Nura an orphan child, working as mine worker to help support her family with her mom got trapped in Jinn realm because of her Qareen's tricks and finally found her way back to her world. After getting tricked by Jinns a lot finally Nura Recited Ayat al Kursi to get rid of them especially her Qareen Dura.
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Thrilling fantasy MG with the moral centered around importance of education, child labor, mine workers and most important Eid Al Adha and whole bunch of information about Jinn from Muslim point of view. I really liked the way it has mentioned about Prophet Ibrahim A.S and the reason why Muslim slaughter an animal. I'm just obsessed with the cover page and color combo.
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Brilliant work
The life of an orphan child who works day and night to help support her family while digging mines to collect some mica, shiny glitter for you.
Amal Unbound:
If you think that you are young enough to speak against the oppressor, it's never too young or too late.
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NOTE: Mentions of murder, dead body, blood, dance and songs on wedding but pretty clean and easy to read Novel.
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Amal unbound is set in small village of Pakistan. This book describes an unfortunate reality in some villages where political leaders can be as cruel as can be seen in the form of Khan Sahib and his sons Jawad Sahib.
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12 years old Amal is daughter of a local villager, who loves to study and eldest of 5 daughters where after giving birth to 5th daughter her mother's went into PPD (Postpartum depression) and Amal had to take responsibility of her house. Giving birth to daughter is still to date shame in some cultures especially villages (not everywhere or with every Muslim or Pakistani family at all).
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Though Amal had high dreams to become teacher, loved reading books, being as growing teen, she lost her temper after getting hit by Jawad Sahib's car and was punished to become servant in his house. Leaving her family behind in the hope that she would come back soon, she learnt it can't happen after meeting some other servants at his place.
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The moral of this story is good, to stand against cruel oppressors all you need is to get some courage and teamwork. I found myself enjoying shopping in Anarkali Bazar, Lahore which brought back several memories of back home.
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I would love to see a glossary of difficult words at the end like Sahib, Chador, Roti etc. for new readers.
Omar Rising:
"Fake it until you make it"
Rising Omar is 2nd book by Aisha Saeed in the series after Amal Unbound.
Note: Mentions of Aurat March.
Omar, an orphan child who got admission in famous academy in Lahore, Pakistan on scholarship. He was grateful and happily sent to live in boarding school by his family and villagers until he realized that it wasn't the way he expected.
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I'm impressed by the way these series are written on educational struggles for some while others have privileges over everything.
I'll highly recommend this series for Middle Grade kids, to be grateful for lots of opportunities that they have to get education over Amal, Omar and Hafsa.
Life always brings something new, different and complicated to solve and move along, we never get ideal situations ever and this series helps us to understand it well especially for growing children, teenagers.
To speak against oppressors, injustice and take stand for yourself along with others.
I'll say that while reading, mention of Wassim Akram, Desi food including paratha and village life brought smile on my face. Feeling nostalgic here.
Can't wait for book 3 and 4 to see what Hafsa and Iqra are upto.
The Unicorn Rescue Society The secret of the Himalayas:
Did someone say Himalayas?
Pakistan?
To rescue unicorn?
Patriotic bookworm inside me got alert and of course I had to get this book.
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"𝐼𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒, 𝑑𝑜 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑐𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡 𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒" and yes, this book is total surprise where I found myself catching for breath in Himalayan Mountain range, learning Pashto, dreaming Lahore and what not.
"𝑀𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐽𝑒𝑤𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛"
Adhan, Quran, prayer, tasbih verses from Quran.
Beautiful blend of multiple languages, religions together to rescue animals of myths.
I'm still looking for the most suitable category for this book. Should I call it: facts book?
Or a geography book?
Or an action or rescue book? Medicine or natural treatment book? So many topics are beautiful cover in this one book that is highly recommended for your middle grader.
The author's note is worth reading at the end which shows teamwork and struggle to achieve authentic resources.
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Pakistan is lot more than poor terrorist struggling country and this book will put light on some amazing facts about it (yes Neighbour of Afghanistan as well)
Huda F are you:
Do you have that teenage girl who just reached puberty?
Suddenly all silent?
always in same outfits?
Oh, and going to the public school system?
Learning her Religion while living in west and struggling to stay firm and balanced.
Yes having 2nd language as well?
This book is a MUST (totally)
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Yes, you have to gift it to your daughter no matter what, because she needs this comic books to better understand her hormonal changes, identity and having firm faith and proud on her hijab while giggling.
Super cute comic books where I wished to see "mysterious sister" till the end.
Being at a new place, among new people isn't easy (who else can understand better than me!). The struggle between "I'm a Muslim" or "I'm the Muslim" (sounds familiar?)
I just LOVED it, nothing best that this high-quality comic book that I'm going to share with my niece Insha'Allah.
Satoko and Nada:
"Saudi Arabia is desert where women are oppressed by oil prince, having camels and life is quite backward"
If you have ever heard such statements then Satoko and Nada manga graphic comic is something that you should have for your teenager. Satoko and Nada as roommates share a lot with each other about their religion, good, culture and what not. As a Saudi expat for 9 years, I loved this book series where Japanese writer talks about her personal visit back in 2017 and this book series shows her experience. Oh! how come I can forget their Afghan friend and homeschooler friend as side characters?
Pillars of Islam with prayer timings
Halal food
University student life with part time jobs, assignments, self-cooking and everything you can expect
Muslim women at home
Different Hijabs and Niqabs
Arab men head wearing
Polygamy in Saudi and Afghan culture
Nada's wish for Satoko to accept Islam
Similarities between Arabic and Japanese
Men and women segregation
Arrange marriage scenario in 3rd part took quite dramatic turn and I have to wait for 4th and final part to see if Nana and Abdullah San got married or not (San is title given by Sakoto).
lots of information about Saudi Arabia till 2017 (now things are lot more changed because of vision 2030)
with regards to 3rd part, it talks more about Christianity and Japanese communities in USA and Japanese Muslims. Also, in this part I strongly disagree with Nada that Hijab isn't mentioned in Quran because it actually is in chapter 49th and its commentary. I can understand Afghan Hijab for Pakeeza but I don't agree with it being Afghan cultural thing and has freedom to relax it while being in USA. This series also contains some jokes around female undergarments, domestic violence and I assume that your daughter is old enough to grasp these concepts.
I promise you will Laugh out loud with this graphic comic series.
Ms Marvel Stretched thin:
Anyone raising Super hero fans? my both hands up
Desi Female super hero? wait!
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Patriotic bookworms inside me got alert once again and I had to get this comic book (it's all about me)
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Trying to stay connected with your community, being good daughter, having faith with ambition to reach some goals in life isn't easy and you will see 𝐌𝐬 𝐌𝐚𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐚𝐤𝐚 𝐊𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐚 struggling with all that. Attending Desi Mehandi/Hena where she met her enemy and ended up ruining out her pretty wedding cloths (𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑒𝑠𝑖 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑤)
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The lesson that I want to bring your attention towards is "𝑆𝑜𝑐𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑎 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑡 𝑑𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠". Yes! Being a 21st century child, you can get into trouble which can be life threatening as well. How much to share "your personal information" and staying alert, accepting gifts from unknown senders etc. are the most highlighted factors in this comic book.
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Friendships, stress management, suspense, moral values, internet addiction, family bonding with different levels of faith is beautifully shown in it. I loved to see the beautiful wall hangings of 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐤𝐚𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐌𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐡, 𝐇𝐢𝐣𝐚𝐛𝐢 friend who is there to keep reminding you to attend Quran lessons.
Jannah Jewels:
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For this middle grade chapter book series, I would like to say that,
If you are looking for something for your kids that has:
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To the point Quranic and Hadith reminders
Action
Proud Hijabis
Sunnah sports (swimming, horseback riding, archery)
Anger and its effects
suspense
Time machine that can take you back to meet Muslims rulers from the past
Ways to improve connection with Allah to make duas
Then this is "the series" that you should get for your child.
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If your child is buried in any of these books and not moving from his/her place, don't worry! it's the nature of this book and your child is all Ok!
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Although I would like to see references for Ahadith and Quranic verses being used in this series for authenticity e.g. The chase in China has Hadith mentioned that Prophet Muhammad SAW said "Seek knowledge even if in China, for the seeking of knowledge is incumbent upon every Muslim", it's not Hadith from Prophet Muhammad SAW but rather just a saying (rest Allah knows best).
Toronto Public Library FREE list:
Being as resident of Toronto, I'm grateful to have every possible Muslim children and middle grade books available to borrow, read and enjoy. I've spent 2 years searching for every possible book and made it for FREE download. YES! you read it correct. It's for FREE.
Download here, tell your friends, family and social circle and enjoy.
Note: All pictures are self-taken by Earth Custodians and can't be used without permission.
