Tell Me More About Ramadan by Bachar Karroum

📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚

Title: Tell Me More about Ramadan

Author: Bachar Karroum

Illustrator: Tanja Varcelija

Publisher: Self-Published

Type: Fiction

Age: 3-7

Rating: 5/10

🌙 Islamic Content:

🌙 Concerns: paradise is depicted as a green landscape with waterfalls.

🌙 Summary: Laila is observing unusual happenings around her. Her parents are awake eating in the middle of the night, she eats breakfast alone in the morning, family and relatives come over and everyone helps prepare dinner. Later some go to the masjid to pray while others remain home. After a long day, she finally asks her dad what the special occasion is. Laila learns that it’s the first day of Ramadan. In this month of fasting, Muslims are encouraged to pray, read Qur’an, be generous, forgiving, as well as help those in need.

🌙 Review: The basic principles of Ramadan are covered in this book. The little ones will learn the essence of Ramadan in simple sentences and text. The story is narrated by an outsider looking in as the story follows Laila. The layout of the pages is simple, text on the left, the illustrations on the right. This was shown to be one of the best-sellers on Amazon for Ramadan so of course I decided to purchase after reading the raving reviews. However, I was quite disappointed with the flaws in the storyline. I felt it was so unrealistic that Laila had no clue about such an important month. Noone has mentioned the word Ramadan at all around her before it even began? In addition, an entire day goes by as she observes all these changes, without her questioning or without her parents making mention of it even though she complains that she is eating breakfast alone. Furthermore, the narration on the story mentions the family is fasting and having iftar at the adhan of maghrib while she still doesn’t know about Ramadan. Her father explains some main elements of this month however, Taraweeh isn’t elaborated. It just states that some go to the masjid to pray late at night. As a parent, it’s really difficult to read this story without cringing at the inconsistencies in the story. I also don’t like the way the illustrations show the girl batting her eyelashes as the boy is giving her flowers. Definitely unnecessary in the context. Based on the title, I assumed it would be more of an in-depth explanation rather than an introduction. It’s an okay book if this is the only one you’ve got but there are other options that are more engaging for you and your parents.

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May 5/2020