Review #Alhamdulillah For Series

Another Blogger Friend of mine kindly sent me a copy of her latest book. #Alhamdulillah For Series (A Muslim's Mini Gratitude Journal) for me to review for her. Of course I was very pleased to be able to help.   Ayeina.com is actually the work of two sisters.

I have followed their series from when it first started and love seeing their posters online, whether that is via facebook or their instagram account.  The passage below is from the website explaining briefly what the ~Alhamdulillah Series is about.

'When you say Alhamdulillah, you accept all the baggage that comes along with it. You praise Allah and thank Him with all your heart. Because the more the attitude of gratitude you develop, the more the blessings shower on you – or maybe it’s just that you’ll start seeing the blessings in so many places you never saw before.

This is the reason why we started the #AlhamdulillahForSeries. So we could show praise and gratitude towards Allah in tiny little things even. Things that we sometimes don’t even associate with Allah. It’s a fun series that could be used as great reminders on how important positivity is in our lives.'

The book itself is divided into 4 main categories.
1) Alhamdulillah For Basic Necessities
2) Alhamdulillah For Ties that Bind
3) Alhamdulillah For Islam
4) Alhamdulillah For Everything

The journal covers a calendar month and I personally think this would be ideal for the month of Ramadan, or of course any month. There is a lovely watercolour painting for each day which would appeal to both adults and young children. I really like the layout and the designs in this book and would definitely recommend you having a look at this book.

The book is available to purchase as an E-Book and a paperback version should be coming soon.  If you want to read more about this wonderful book, here is a link to their website. http://ayeina.com/muslims-mini-gratitude-journal/

To purchase this E-book, here is the link: http://ayeina.com/product/alhamdulillahforseries-ebook/

Fitra Journal Review

I feel very honoured to have been chosen to have an article I wrote to be printed in the brand new magazine 'Fitra Journal - The Muslim Homeschool Quarterly'.  There are so many other brilliant articles in the magazine that I decided I needed to do a review on this brilliant new homeschooling resource.

If you are already homeschooling or just interested in homeschooling then I would suggest having a look at this magazine to give you some ideas of how homeschooling works for other families.

I wrote about my own personal journey to homeschooling which involved getting my husband on my side as he really wasn't interested in homeschooling at all. He originally thought that schooling can only be done in a school and it took a while to convince him otherwise.

Getting My Husband To Agree To Homeschooling - By Karima Heraoua

This is my story about how I managed to get my husband to agree to homeschooling our children - something I had wanted to do for many years. He was firmly against me homeschooling due to how he saw schooling.  We come from different backgrounds. Schools in his native North Africa were very strict and he had to pass yearly tests before he moved up to the next class.  It was very regimental.  In the school system I was brought up with in the United Kingdom we were always in the same class as those of the same age no matter the ability..........................................

The above is a sneak peak to the first paragraph of my article. If you want to read the rest of the article I will post links to where you can purchase the magazine which is available to buy from Amazon.

One of my best friends, Samar, also has her article in this first edition.

Single-Parent Homeschooling - Samar Asamoah
Samar does a brilliant job as a single parent who homeschools and also works self employed. She talks about how her journey started and how she has adapted to the changes.  She is a brilliant artist and you can find her designs at www.yezarck.com/shop

Some other favourites of mine from this edition are:

Do You Have A Homeschooling Mission Statement? - By Priscilla Martinez
She talks about how important it was for her family to have a 'Mission Statement' even though it has changed many times over the years. She also talks about making sure you are flexible, which may sound contradictory but it works well.

Why I Still Homeschool In A Muslim Country - By Brooke Benoit
Brooke is a homeschooling mum to seven and is the Editor of this magazine and I think her article is quite an important one for many Muslims.  We seem to think that if we move to a Muslim country that the schools there will be better than the ones in our current country so we don't need to homeschool.  She explains some of the issues with expats relocating to Muslim countries.


The Useful Links for this post below:

Fitra Magazine Main website: http://www.fitrajournal.com/

Fitra Magazine Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Fitra-Journal

Link to buy Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1530930995

Link to buy Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1530930995

Book Review - My Granny

This week was Islamic Children's Book Day, I posted earlier about this, so what better time than to do a new Book Review!  http://www.readlittlemuslims.com/islamic-childrens-book-day-2015/

I bought 'My Granny' last year for my daughters' to read. I was initially drawn to this book because it is about a young Muslim girl and her relationship with her Christian Grandmother, something which fits in well with my blended family situation.  My children have always grown up to respect their Christian family and they know how important it is in religion to be good with your family. Grandparents are very important to young children and it is good when religion does not need to get in the way of love.

My Review:

This is a brilliant book which was written by a young 9 year old girl named Fatimah-Zahra Kennedy.  She is also a homeschooled child which is real inspiration to my young homeschooled daughters. The story is all about her and her relationship with her Granny and how much they love each other's company even though they have different religions. It shows how they have respect for each other and how that the author explains that 'we should always keep ties with our kin because Allah tells us in the Quran to look after our parents and be kind to them when they are older.'

This book also has a few poems at the back of the book and an Activites section at the back for children to complete.  I highly recommend this book to anyone but especially to those who have blended families.

My Daughter's Review:

We are Muslim and we also have family who are not Muslim. I think the best part is that like this book my grandmothers aren't Muslim either but have still been very nice to me.  I am sad that one of my grandmother's has now passed away but she was always kind and I loved having to sleep at her house and getting sweets from her and she always bought halal things just for us. I loved this book because it is kind of like our family. Miss A Heraoua (Age 8)

My Granny

Fatimah-Zahra Kennedy

ISBN: 9781505369557

Islamic Children's Book Day 2015

I am helping to advertise this great event. http://www.readlittlemuslims.com/islamic-childrens-book-day-2015/  My girls have been brought up reading Islamic books and love reading them again and again.  Our favourite ones have to be the Goodword Series of books which are so bright and catch the young readers attention.  I have written a few book reviews on this blog in the past sharing with you some of our other favourite books.

One of my youngest daughter's favourite book to read is 'The Magic Words' by Lisha Azad.  I wrote a review about that book back in 2013 and even made a small video of my daughter reading this book, here is the full blog article, if you click on it you can watch the video of my daughter reading this particular book.
http://www.karimascrafts.com/2013/12/book-review-magic-words.html

Below are some other of my past Islamic Book Reviews that my children have read that you can find on my blog:

http://www.karimascrafts.com/2013/02/book-review-path-that-allah-made.html
http://www.karimascrafts.com/2013/01/book-review-allahs-best-friend.html
http://www.karimascrafts.com/2012/02/book-review-iron-wall.html
http://www.karimascrafts.com/2012/01/book-review-ark-of-nuh.html
http://www.karimascrafts.com/2012/01/book-review-miraculous-baby.html

I have bought a couple of new books and I am hoping that this Ramadan I will maybe do a few more book reviews insha'Allah.

What are your children's favourite Islamic books and are you planning on buying some during this Ramadan?


Please help share this great event using the hashtag #islamicbookday

Book Review - From my sisters' lips

I recently bought a copy of this book as I had wanted to read it for a long time! I actually made sure that I set aside some personal time to read this book, which was quite an achievement for me as I don't normally read much or have the time too! I normally post book reviews on the books my children read, so this is the first adult book review I have posted!

My Book Review:

When I first started reading this book I was a little surprised by it's layout, not in a bad way I might add! I was personally expecting a biography of the Author, but the book is actually a mixture of her own biography and also stories of some her friends journeys to Islam. It covers some of the important facts regarding women in Islam and the author is quite honest in her own personal views about Islam before and after she reverted to Islam.

Being a revert to Islam myself I totally understand many of the topics she covered in the book, and it was kind of re-assuring in a way to know that I wasn't alone in some of the things I went through on my own path to Islam. She covers many topics in the book including her own reversion, marriage, motherhood and religion. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and it was nice to get to know the Author as she is the author of some of the great books I have bought for my young children. If you haven't read this book, I would definitely recommend you having a read!

Author: Na'ima B. Robert

Title: From my sisters' lips

ISBN: 0-593-05441-5

Book Review - Boy vs Girl

I bought this book recently for my daughter to read, there isn't a lot of choice for the Muslima Girls these days, so it is nice to find some books aimed at the Muslima Teenage Girl market! This book review is written by my 11 year old daughter.

BOOK REVIEW:

Boy vs Girl is a book about Farhana and Faraz who are twins born 6 minutes apart and their fight to be good Muslims at Ramadan.  They were born in the UK but have Pakistan origins. Will they have the courage to do the right thing or will everything they have learnt about their religion go to waste!

I really love this book as it shows being a Muslim is not just a walk in the park and it shows how you need to sacrifice a lot for Allah and Islam.  This story also shows that you cannot always rely on your parents especially if they go against Islam.

Boy vs Girl

Author: Na'ima B. Robert

ISBN: 978-1-84780-005-3

Book Review - From Somalia with Love

I recently bought this book for my eldest daughter after seeing some good reviews online. She really enjoyed reading this and she decided to do a review about this great read. I haven't personally read this book but I might do so at a later date, Insha'Allah.

Book Review - By my 11 year old daughter

From Somalia, with Love is about Safia Dirie a Somalian teenage girl who has been living with her mum and her two brothers in East London in England almost all her life.  When suddenly her supposedly dead father comes home. Can she deal with his demands and temper and still be a good Muslim girl?  Read the book to find out.

I can relate to Safia in this book as I too am a young Muslim girl living in England who has to deal with the traditions of a foreign dad! I really enjoyed this book and would recommend you reading it.

From Somalia, with love

Author: Na'ima B. Robert

ISBN: 978-1-84507-832-4

SLH Crafts Review

Those who follow me on Facebook will already know that my young crafty daughter is now blogging and has her own brand new website. However those who don't have Facebook won't know about this so I thought I would do a post about her new blog! She would love some new followers - http://www.slhcrafts.com/

She is only 11 and loves doing anything crafty! I started homeschooling my girls since July last year which means she gets to have more time at home to do all the different types of crafts that she loves.  I used to showcase some of her work here on my blog, but now that she has her own blog I will have to find some different crafts to publish!

Here are a few of her latest blog posts: Charcoal drawings: http://www.slhcrafts.com/2014/01/charcoal-eye-drawing.html

Her latest hairstyles she loves doing: http://www.slhcrafts.com/2014/01/hair-designs-of-week.html

Crochet Hook Roll Tutorial: http://www.slhcrafts.com/2014/01/crochet-hook-roll-tutorial.html

Crocheted Jar Cozy and Matching Coaster: http://www.slhcrafts.com/2014/01/crochet-jar-cozy-and-coaster.html

Below is a collage of some photos of my daughter being crafty! She loves crochet, drawing, sewing, henna and many other crafty things!

So as this is a review, I will end this post with that I think this is a brilliant website written by a brilliant young girl (I have to say that as she is my daughter!) but honestly she looooves crafts and I think we will be seeing some more lovely work from her in the near future, insha'Allah.

Book Review - The Magic Words

This Islamic book is one of my daughter's favourite books! She loves reading this one on a night time before she goes to bed as it is about a little girl trying to get to sleep! This book teaches young children a dua or short prayer that can be said before they sleep.

My Review

This book is a lovely book for young children. It is about a young girl named Laila who is finding it very difficult to get to sleep. It goes through all the different things that she tries to do to help her to sleep. She eventually decides she needs to find her Mama who then helps her to get to sleep using 'the magic words'. The Author has done a great job of telling a lovely story with the added bonus of including a short dua that becomes part of the story. This book can be read to very small children as there are plenty of illustrations to help you follow the story and of course the older the child is they can read the story themselves. My daughter has read this story many many times and she still loves it!

Review by my 6 year old

This book is about a girl called Laila and her mum and her pets and sleeping.  I like this book because it is funny and you learn.

The Magic Words

Author: Lisha Azad

Illustration: Azra Momin

ISBN: 978-0-9562141-8-8

I took a video of my young daughter reading this book, you can watch the video below via YouTube:

Book Review - The Longing Heart

My Review:

I  really enjoyed this book - It is meant for children aged 11-14. It is about a young man named Abu Dhar who was interested in learning more about the Blessed Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). He returns to his own tribe and continues the message of Islam to his own people. This book is told in a story, rather than a book just giving facts. I didn't read this book to my 5 year old as this is aimed at the older readers and didn't have many illustrations to keep her interacting with the story. The book was however well suited for my 10 year old daughter who loved it.

My 10 year old Daughter's Review:

This book is about one of the many reverts of Islam, Abu Dhar. I really loved this book, it shows how just because of their religion Muslims were disliked. I also loved this book because it gives a reverts point of view.

The Longing Heart – Story of Abu Dhar

Author: Khurram Murad

Illustrator: Hanife Hasan

 ISBN: 0 86037 138 7

Printed by The Islamic Foundation

Book Review - The Very Hungry Caterpillar

My Review

This book is one of the best! All my children have read this book since they were very young and all of them have loved it! The story gives a very lighthearted view of how a caterpillar turns into a lovely butterfly by eating food such as lollipops, which certainly gets the children giggling! I would highly recommend your children read this book, it is probably one of the most well-known books out there for young children.

My 5 year old daughter's Review:

"This book is great" - and to show you how great it is,I have my daughter on video here reading the whole story all by herself!

I hope you enjoyed this review and the video.

 

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

by Eric Carle

Penguin Book

Book Review - The Prophets of Allah (Muhammad) pbuh

My Review:

This book is a great book which is published for children in the age range of 8-12 years old. My 10 year old read this book and found it very interesting. I also read this book to my 5 year old who really enjoyed listening and looking at the illustrations in the book. The illustrations in this book don't show any living creature but you can still capture the story through the illustrations.

The story starts with the birth of Muhammad (pbuh) and ends on his death, covering the main parts of his life story.  There is a question page at the end of the book for the children to answer. These questions were too difficult for my 5 year old but challenging enough for my 10 year old to answer.

This is a great concise book about Muhammad (pbuh) that is great for children.

My 10 year old daughter review:

This book is about the life story and message of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I found this book interesting because it has all the key facts, in addition is a great story to read.  It gives all the information you need and also explains everything in detail.

Muhammad – The Prophets of Allah

Age 8-12

Simplified by Omar Aly Al-Komy

Printed by Safeer

ISBN: 977-361-099-3

Book Review - The Gruffalo

This book is one of my children's favourite books. They have all read this book when they were very young and they all loved it!  Today I have posted a video to this post which has my 5 year old daughter reading some of this book.

My Review:

I would recommend this book as all of my children have loved reading this book. It is read in a poem format so makes the children remember the words more easily. The illustrations are brilliant and truly engage the child into the book. The author has written follow on books which are also just as good.

Review by my 5 year old:

She loves this book and for today's post I have included a link to a video of her actually reading the book.

THE GRUFFALO

Macmillan

Julia Donaldson

Alex Scheffler

ISBN: 0333710932

Book Review - The Path That Allah Made

 

All my children have read this book and they have all enjoyed it. I am again going to give 2 reviews, one from myself and one from my eldest daughter, so you can see the point of view from a child.

 

My Review:

 

This book is actually an illustrated poem. To be honest even though it is a poem it isn't one that is easy for a child to read as a poem, even for me I wasn't sure which part was rhyming! It took me a few goes to understand which way to make it rhyme as a poem, at first I read it as a book. Once my 5 year old had heard it a few times she attempted to read it herself. The illustrations are very bright and really caught the attention of my daughter.  I have to give a bit of a mixed review for this - Yes it was hard to read and grasp at first, but once you do the story is giving important information to young children about all the things that Allah made, so is quite useful.

 

Review by My 10 year old daughter:

 

I liked this book because it is a wonderful story to read in addition has many beautiful illustrations. I learnt from this book how everything around us for example birds, trees, people are all creations from Allah and remind us of Allah.

 

 

The Path that Allah Made – Islam & Me

Goodword Books

By Adeeba Jafri

Illustrated by Soumen Bhowmick

ISBN: 81-7898-280-3

Book Review - The Prophets of Allah (Jesus) pbuh

Another week another review - hope these are of interest to you! I know when I have looked for reviews on Islamic books it has been nearly impossible to find any! So I hope these reviews can be of some benefit. Again I am giving a review from my point of view and also my daughter's view. If you want to look at the other book reviews I have already done then please click on the bar at the top of my page (Book Reviews).

My Review:

This book is specifically aimed at children aged between 8-12. My 10 year old daughter read this book but I also read it to my 5 year old who enjoyed listening to it, so I would suggest that this could be used for the under 8's too. The book has plenty of illustrations to keep the young reader engaged. The book doesn't use any illustrations of living people, but still manages to keep you following the story.

As the title suggests, this book is about the Prophet Jesus (pbuh). This book actually starts by the birth of Mary and also a little after the ascension of Jesus (pbuh) so covers quite a variety in such a short story.

At the end of the book there is a page with questions for the reader to answer, which is great for the 8+ to engage in so they can see if they have remembered what they had read about. I actually read the questions to my 5 year old and she did manage to answer a couple too!


Review by 10 year old daughter:

This book is about the life of Jesus (peace be upon him). I really liked this book because it was very interesting to learn how Allah saves those who believe. I also found it interesting because it shows how much Jesus (pbuh) suffered, but Allah saved him form the cross. I enjoyed this book.

Jesus – The Prophets of Allah

Age 8-12

Simplified by Salama Muhammad Salama

Printed by Safeer

ISBN: 977-361-094-2

Book Review - Allah's Best Friend

I am going to start doing some more Book Reviews, inshallah. I thought I would start with this one that both my daughters' have read. As this is a children's book I have asked my 10 year old daughter to do a review on it so that you can read the review from a child's point of view too.

My Review:

This book is an ideal short story for young children, my 5 year old loved listening to this story and even tried reading it herself as it isn't too long for her to get bored! The illustrations are lovely and bright and correspond well to the story, so can keep my youngest engaged in listening to the story. The story is about Ibrahim (pbuh). I would recommend this book to parents with young children.

Review by my 10 year old daughter:

I enjoyed reading this book about the Prophet Ibrahim (or Abraham). I liked this book because it shows that faith in Allah is the only thing that can save a believer in this world and the world to come.  I found this book very interesting.

Allah’s Best Friend

Quran Stories for Little Hearts

Goodword Books

Illustrated by Achla Anand and Achal K Anand

ISBN: 81-87570-51-2

Book Review - The Iron Wall

This is my own personal review of one of the books I have bought for my own children. The title is 'The Iron Wall' Quran Stories for little Hearts.

This book is about 'Dhul Qarnayn' who was a magnificent king during the sixth century BC. He was a righteous man and this book tells the story of Yajuj and the Majuj (Gog and Magog). They kept attacking tribes through the mountain passes. Dhul Qarnayn arranged for the iron wall to be built.

This is a great story for the very young and has great illustrations alongside the text. It is a story from the Quran which is made more understandable to young readers.

My eldest read this many years ago but he still has a peak to remind him. It is quite a short story with only about one sentence per page but the illustrations make the story! My youngest aged 4 loves this story.

Title: The Iron Wall

Publisher: Goodword Books

ISBN: 8178980797

Quran Stories for little hearts series are a wonderful way to explain stories of the Quran to young children.

Book Review - The Ark of Nuh

This book is about the Prophet Nuh (Noah.) pbh
Nuh pbh prayed to Allah, who told him to build an Ark. It tells the story of all the pairs of animals coming on board the Ark. It informs the children about the rain and flood and how Allah saved all them on board.

This book is a great read and the pictures are designed brilliantly to help tell the story. This is a superb story to read to the very young or to give to the young children to read themselves. All my children have read this book and all have loved it and remembered the story.

Here are the book details if you are interested in purchasing it:

Title: The Ark of Nuh

Publisher: Goodword Books

ISBN: 8187570873

This post was on my other blog which I have now amalgamated with this blog. I want to do a monthly book review so I thought I would copy the two reviews I have already posted on my other blog over to this one.

Book Review - The Miraculous Baby

Today I am posting a children's book review. This is my own personal review on one of the books I bought for my children. The title is 'The Miraculous Baby' Quran Stories for little Hearts. I thought I might share my reviews for any mothers who are interested in Islamic books suitable for their children.  I chose this book to do my first review as this is one of the favourites of my children.

The Miraculous Baby is about the story of the birth of Jesus (Isa) pbh and his mother Mary (Maryam). The story also covers the birth of Maryam and mentions Zakariyya pbh who is Mary's uncle. It tells you about Jesus's pbh first miracle - speaking as a baby. It also covers the miracle of moulding a bird out of clay and giving it life.

My children have all read this book, my eldest read this many years ago and he enjoyed it. My 9 year old daughter has read this many times and my 4 year old enjoys listening to the story before she goes to bed. The illustrations really help towards the telling of the story. I would suggest this book is suitable for the pre-schoolers and the young children like my 9 year old.

I would highly recommend this book to parents of young children. Here are the details of the book if you are interested in buying, I bought mine online and it is available through many outlets.

Title: The Miraculous Baby

Publisher: Goodword Books
ISBN: 8178983877

This post was on my other blog which I have now amalgamated with this blog. I want to do a monthly book review so I thought I would copy the two reviews I have already posted on my other blog over to this one.