Ramadan

Children's Literature - Karen Leggett

This colorful, large format book appears to cover the basics of this important Muslim holiday: fasting, praying, the mosque, the Qur'an, charity, Eid al Fitr, sahoor and iftar (meals to begin and end the day of fasting). But the information is incomplete and inaccurate. "The God of Islam is named Allah." Allah is simply the Arabic word for God, not the name of a different God worshipped by Muslims. The reason for fasting is not simply to clean or purify oneself; fasting also teaches discipline and empathy with people who have no choice about being hungry. The captions often do not match the photographs; the location of the photographs is not provided and there appear to be no photographs of Muslims in Western countries. The potentially interesting "Did you know?" facts sprinkled through the book are often gratuitous: "Many Muslims are kind to strangers and give to the poor and less fortunate." The "Celebrations" series also includes titles about Chinese New Year, Christmas, Cinco de Mayo, Day of the Dead, Diwali and others. Thankfully, there are many other excellent choices available for schools and libraries seeking to provide students with accurate information on diverse holidays. Reviewer: Karen Leggett