Title: NIGHT of the MOON - A Muslim Holiday Story
Author: Hena Khan
Illustrator: Julie Paschkis
Publisher: Chronicle, 2008
Intended age: 4-8
Themes: Holidays, Ramadan
First lines: "It was bedtime, and Yasmeen waited for her mom to read her a story as she did every night. But this night was different."
Synopsis: A seven-year old girl celebrates the month of Ramadan.
Why I like this Book: I don't know much about Ramadan. I knew that people fasted, but not much more. The story portrays a close knit loving family while explaining the holiday that they are celebrating, emphasizing the themes of family traditions and charity for others who are less fortunate. This book contains basic information so it probably isn't for members of the Muslim community who would know these things already.
The illustrator frames the spreads with lush mosaic patterns of teal and turquoise.
Resources/Activities:
- Read a little bit about Ramadan and celebrate with the Fattoush salad or Lentil soup recipes provided by education.com.
- Try to complete the fill-in-the-blanks worksheet at Education world.
- Primarygames.com has printable coloring pages and games to play.
- Last year I read, and recommended, a book by this same author (Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns, 2013). The Little Big Book Club has posted a lesson plan for that book with more information about Islam.
- A group of occupational and speech therapists and special education teachers created a wonderful unit for their students about Islam, using Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns
This review is part of PPBF (perfect picture book Friday) where bloggers share great picture books at Susanna Leonard Hill's site. Along with tons of writing wisdom, she keeps an ever-growing list of Perfect Picture Books. #PPBF
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