Product Description
Ami loves her chicken better than me.

She calls her Bibi, I call her silly.

Rani's mother loves Bibi the chicken more than her. At least that's what Rani thinks. That silly chicken gets all the attention, and Rani just can't stand it. Even worse, Bibi seems to know she's the favorite! But when Bibi disappears one afternoon, Rani realizes how sad her mother is. Will Rani's jealousy disappear, too?

Set in rural Pakistan and illustrated with lively, expressive illustrations, this original take on sibling rivalry is hilarious and poignant at the same time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great Book
What a wonderful book for young kids. Both our 4 year old and 2 year old cant get enough of this book and insist on reading it every night at bedtime. We look forward to more books from this author! The illustrations are great too!

Witty, Imaginative, and Beautiful Book
This is a funny, sweet story with lovable characters (including the chicken).You can see the characters' personalities in the cover illustration.Each of Yunmee Kyong's illustrations is a beautiful painting which compliments the text.A lovely book! ... Read more

Product Description
Is it just Saba, or do chickens scare everyone? The chickens in her yard are especially mean, chasing her and pecking at her toes. But when she sees a snake in the bathhouse, Saba realizes that chickens aren't her only problem. She has to act fast to protect herself and her nani, her grandma,from the snake. Can she conquer the chickens and the snake to become the Ruler of the Courtyard?Does she really have to conquer them at all?

Set in Pakistan, this suspenseful picture book has text that is ideal for reading out loud, and award-winning illustrator R. Gregory Christie's bold and imaginative illustrations will captivate readers and bring Saba to life. ... Read more

Product Description
For a young refugee living with loss and terror-filled memories, time is measured by the next bucket of water, the next portion of bread, and the next call to prayer. Here, where everything – walls, floor, courtyard – is mud, a boy’s heart can still long for freedom, independence, and safety. And here, where life is terribly fragile, the strength to endure grows out of need. But the strength to dreams comes from within. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Great story
This is a great story for any age group.My eight year old son read this book and learned more about current events than the news could have ever taught him.I used this book in my tenth grade class room when we did a unit on picture books and changing the world and my students were prompted to plan a school wide "tolerance / compassion" day so that others could learn more about people around the world.

Great Book
Dealing with refugee children i must say this is a great book, it realy captures the heartache of the afgahni experience.

"It's always the same. The jets scream overhead."
"It's always the same. The jets scream overhead." is the powerful first line of this story that resonates even more forcefully in the wake of the September 11th attacks. The Roses in My Carpets is a masterful tale of a young Afghan refugee by Toronto writer Rukhsana Khan. It is based on a true story, that of the author's foster child in Peshawar, Pakistan. With the unfolding of historical events, it is probably destined to be a classic.

Spare, grim and unsentimental, the story is a beautifully woven narrative of a young fatherless refugee boy caring for his mother and sister in a war-torn world. Symbolic of the loss of identity suffered by refugees, the boy remains nameless throughout the story. Movingly, he struggles to survive with his family within the sombre parameters that govern his universe. Escape finally arrives when he goes to his job as an apprentice carpet weaver. There he makes sure "there are plenty of roses in my carpets". As the story ends, hope surfaces in the young boy's dream of finding "a space, the size of a carpet, where the bombs cannot touch us."

Ronald Himler's watercolour and pencil drawings look overwhelmingly familiar with the images that now flood our homes through television. I have read Roses to my four year old many times and she appreciated the opportunity to comprehend the devastating effect of war on families. I would highly recommend it to other parents and teachers.

A very poignant story about a child refugee
I think this is a great book for encouraging discussion of diversity in the classroom.

In the school where I teach a lot of the children come from refugee backgrounds and this story was something they could reallyrelate to.But the other kids could relate to it too.

The imagery ispowerful and the kids loved it. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (5)

A Great Story
This is Khan's first YA novel. She is an award winning children's author in Canada. Jameela lives in a small village in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Set around 2001, Jameela has grown up surrounded by war. When Jameela's Mor (mother), dies, she is lost. Soon after the funeral, Jameela's baba, (father) sells everything they own and moves them to the city of Kabul. When they first got their, Jameela did her best to figure out the new world she was in. Her baba didn't care too much for her welfare. Without her mor their was no one to answer her questions, all she could do was follow. Jameela's baba remarries, the new wife works her very hard and he doesn't intervene. One day the new wife decides she doesn't want Jameela around. Jameela's baba leaves her in the market. It was very sad to see how trusting Jameela was, standing for hours before she would even sit because she worried her baba wouldn't see her when he returned. Luckliy for Jameela, a kind butcher takes her home with him to his family. Eventually, Jameela is placed in an orphanage. I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing, but it was still upsetting that Jameela was at the mercy of so many people. The orphanage turns out to be where Jameela finds a new home. She finally gets to go to school and make friends. Khan draws out several of the secondary characters to making the novel more interesting. I really enjoyed Wanting Mor and found I couldn't stop reading. When I was away from it I found myself thinking about Jameela. Jameela dreamed of her Mor often. She is a practicing Muslim, throughout the book Jameela says her prayers. Khan's weaves Jameela's faith and prayers seamlessly into the story. The author also incorporates a few Farsi, Pushto and Arabic words, from the surrounding sentences it was pretty easy to figure out what the words meant. Nothing miraculous or unbelievable happens and that's part of Wanting Mor's beauty. Its simply the story of a girl from a village, who moves to the city, tethered to no one and how quickly she could get lost and forgotten.

wow.
This book is deeply touching.

It tells the tale of a young girl whose mother recently died, and her father isn't properly taking care of her.She struggles to keep going after her father remarries.She was born with a lip deformity, and she is frightened because she believes she will be teased because of it.

This reveiw is neither good, nor very descriptive, but believe me.

This is a GOOD book.

If you can't be beautiful, at least be good
This book should be taught in the context of the culture from which it springs. Without that context, it can be very damaging to tweens and teens in the United States. If you can't be beautiful, at least be good. That's the strong message that begins and ends this book. Another message: "Men are supposed to be the caretakers of women, not the other way around." One more: If a female is not "properly" covered, she opens herself up to sexual abuse. And she deserves it. The most egregious scene portrays a girl receiving an inappropriate, sexual squeeze of her breast by a boy. The burka-wearing heroine views the act and says, "I knew I shouldn't find it funny. But..." And I was thinking, Darned right, you shouldn't!

A hard world
We live in a hard old world, even though for many of us that fact is disguised by pleasant surroundings.

And the only thing that gets any of us through is faith, hope and occasionally the kindness of strangers.

Rutgers University Project on Economics and Children
Jameela had already experienced so much hardship as a youngster living in Afghanistan during the Taliban's stronghold and then the American invasion. She lived in poverty and had no education, she had lost a number of family members to violence and disease, and she had to deal with the inevitable stares when people saw her cleft lip. Then on the most devastating day of all, her mother died after a brief illness. With virtually no time to grieve the loss of her Mor, Jameela was forced to leave the village with her drug-addicted father for the capital city in an ill-conceived plan to find new work.

Life for Jameela in Kabul was grim and dismal as she worked under slave-like conditions, first in a temporary situation and then in the household of a surly woman who her father had suddenly married.The step-mother despised Jameela and instructed her new husband to abandon Jameela in a busy Kabul market. Inexplicably, he complied, and Jameela was left completely and totally alone.Ultimately, it took the kindness of strangers, inspiration from her strong faith, memories of her precious Mor, and the power of an education to turn her life around in the most surprising and ironic of ways.

Wanting Mor stands out as a mesmerizing book with lively characters, heartbreaking plot developments, and incredibly rich cultural content. Jameela's plight is representative of the wide-scale devaluation of the social and economic status of women and girls in Central Asia, which has led to the abandonment and neglect of unwanted girls. Based on a true event, this book provides testament to the depths of the problem and the possibilities for change.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Must read
This book is a must read for every muslim child growing up in the West and for everyone who is trying to understand the American/Canadian Muslim experience. It truely captures the humanity of a muslim girl growing up in the west. it shows how she has the same problems most kids have, the bossy older sister and trying to be popular to how she feels outside because she is a Muslim and an Indian. every middle and high school in america should have this book on thier libraries shelf.

Amazing!
Hello All,

I just finished this scintillating story dealing with many issues that a young adult may face in school, in one afternoon. Yes one afternoon! I found the story so gripping that it was hard to put down. Not a young adult myself, I thank the author for showing me a way of understanding and developing empathy for what teenagers go through.

A must read for yourself and your kids!

the bully bites the dust
Well, I am not a young adult, rather a middling adult, and I very much enjoyed this book. In fact once I was past the middle, I couldn't put it down. Zainab's trials with peer pressure, belonging, friendships and siblings took me back to grade and highschool... very realistic and multifaceted. None of the characters are one-sided, and behaviour is not overly simplified (possible exception: the bully Kevin, who doesnt seem to have any redeeming features at all).Zainab's progression from desperate to please, to fully self-confident in one school year is a bit optimistic... but this book belongs on the shelf next to most adult non-fiction self-esteem books. The messages of being yourself, standing up for your values, forgiving oneself's little failings all come out clear, and in a non-preachy manner.The foreshadowing of abusive female/male adult relationships in the relationship between Kevin and Jenny(and the rest of his "harem") is rather ominous, as are the results of the abuse... realistically portrayed without being melodramatic. All in all a very engaging and worthwhile book.

Coming of Age in a Different Culture
Zainab is a 14-year-old with typical problems - the wrong jeans, a bossy older sister, a friend with big breasts.Add to that the drama contest, and she's up to her humming ears in problems.I loved this character - she's funny and flawed and trying to figure out how to deal with the world. Add to that her Pakistani background and Muslim beliefs, and the bookbecomes more than just a typical coming of age YA book.Her problems wererelatable no matter what beliefs the reader might have, and yet herstruggle to make decisions within the guidelines of her values made for athought-provoking book.My 14-year-old and 11-year old daughters read thebook, as well, and it provoked a real family dialog about tolerance,understanding and collaboration.Good story, with 3-dimensional charactersand funny, realistic situations.I'd recommend it for middle and highschool readers.(And as an adult, I enjoyed it, too.) ... Read more

Product Description
Rubina has been invited to her first birthday party, and her mother, Ami, insists that she bring her little sister along. Rubina is mortified, but she can’t convince Ami that you just don’t bring your younger sister to your friend’s party. So both girls go, and not only does Sana demand to win every game, but after the party she steals Rubina’s prized party favor, a red lollipop. What’s a fed-up big sister to do?

Rukhsana Khan’s clever story and Sophie Blackall’s irresistible illustrations make for a powerful combination in this fresh and surprising picture book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

birthday, culture, tradition, love, wisdom, peace
//Big Red Lollipop// unfolds cultural difference, sibling rivalry, and a touch of sweet sisterly love.It is eye-opening to know that in some cultures, birthdays may not be celebrated.When Rubina, the little girl, came running home from school excitedly announced that she was invited to a birthday party, Ami's (the way Rubina calls her mom,) first response was, "What's a birthday party?"This book lets the readers peek into Rubina's life, whose culture and tradition are quite different from what Americans might be used to.Rubina learned that going to a birthday party, one must be invited, and siblings aren't supposed to join unless otherwise noted.However, Ami insisted that Sana, Rubina's sister, must go, too. A couple of years passed.One day, Sana got a birthday invitation, too.Oh, no, deja vu!However, gracious Rubina understood Sana's situation.Instead of getting even with her sister, Rubina defended Sana's position against Maryam (their youngest sister) and was able to convince Ami not to let Maryam go along to the birthday party.It is rewarding to see how wise this young lady Rubina's decision and action were.Rukhsana Khan instilled rich supply of wisdom and set a good example to our young readers, while Sophie Blackall beautifully touched every detail to enrich the illustration.

Reviewed by Sophie Masri

Dream away, on the good ship lollipop
Yeah, I have a little sister.Have since I was six.And like most older siblings I had the usual older sis/younger sis relationship with her you might imagine.We older siblings get a lot of innate perks, being the first and all, but when you're a kid you have a tendency to only notice the problems.Little sisters want to go everywhere with their older sibs.That's just the nature of the game.What author Rukhsana Khan has done with her newest picture book "Big Red Lollipop" is tell a new story of little sis/big sis woes with a twist that'll knock young readers' socks off.It doesn't matter if a kid is an older sibling, younger sibling, or only child.This book packs a wallop, in part because of the art of Sophie Blackall, and in part because Khan has given us one of the best stories about forgiveness I've read in a very long time.

What a nightmare!When Rubina ran home one day to tell her mother than she was invited to a birthday party, she couldn't believe it when her Ami told her she had to make sure her little sister Sana was invited too.And not only does her little sister pitch a fit when she doesn't win all the games at that party, but she eats all the candy in her goody bag right away.Rubina's a more patient type.She saves her own big red lollipop on the top shelf of the fridge so that she'll be able to eat it first thing the next day.Imagine her horror then when Sana eats HER lollipop too!And her mother doesn't even take Rubina's side!A couple years later, Sana gets invited to a birthday party of her own and is shocked when her mother says she has to bring HER younger sister Maryam along.Rubina could say nothing and let Sana get what's coming to her, but instead she tells their Ami to let Sana go by herself.Ami agrees.After the party, Sana gives Rubina the big green lollipop she got as a gift at the party."After that we're friends."

Part of what I love about this book is how it manages to come up with a new universal truth; No matter what country, culture, religion, or background you are from, there is one thing on which we can all agree:little sisters are annoying.Rubina may be Pakistani-Canadian, but this story is a perfect melding of culture clash and something that could happen to anyone, regardless of where they're from.In this particular case Rubina's Ami insists on Sana accompanying her older sister to a birthday party, but there are plenty of parents here in America from other races and religions that would insist on the very same thing.And the outcome, let's face it, might be exactly the same as what you find here.The difference is only in the details.

On a more basic level, I was also keen on how Khan constructed the story.She could have begun by wasting time showing Rubina receiving her invitation at school.Instead, the first line of the book is, "I'm so excited I run all the way home from school."This allows Rubina to tell both her mother and the reader the news about her birthday party invitation at the same time.I like how information is conveyed here.I also like how well Khan is able to show that time has passed without saying something as rote as "three years later".Rubina gives a short "I don't get any invitations for a really long time", and we later see the girls older thanks to this line and thanks to Blackall's pictures.It's a wonderful melding of image and text telling a single tale.

Artist Sophie Blackall has written her own fair share of picture books in her time.In a way, she cut her teeth on inter-girl arguments and friendships when she illustrated the "Ivy & Bean" series for Annie Barrows.Here, she places most of her characters against a white background, allowing their expressions to really pop off the page.You have the distinct impression that Blackall knows from whence she illustrates too.There's something about little Sana crying about not being able to go to the birthday party with Rubina that looks calculated.I think it's the fact that her left eye is closed, while the right one looks sneakily over at her older sis.And look at that last picture of the two girls with their arms around one another.That, combined with the sentence, "After that we're friends" just hits me where it hurts.Sana is looking at the viewer.Rubina is looking over at the little sister that has unexpectedly made amends after all those years.

The attention to detail within the pages is also remarkable.I love the Formica dining room table where the girls color and do their homework while Ami types on her laptop.It grounds the book in the present, which I really appreciate.I love the sheer variety of colors and patterns on the clothes of the characters and the fancy borders around cutaway images.Personally, I'm convinced that the first page of the book is an unconscious homage to the Sophie Blackall cover of Newbery winner Rebecca Stead's book "When You Reach Me".Something about the maplike quality of it.

When it comes down to it, this is a book about grace.Self-sacrifice is never felt more keenly by a child than when a story speaks on their level about something they understand.I could read a kid parable after parable about forgiveness and not make so much as a dent in their scaly little brains.But tell them a story about an older sister being wronged by her younger sibling and then going out of her way, in spite of her anger, to keep that same sister from experiencing a similar fate... THAT hits home.Hear that?That is the sound of thousands of tiny jaws plummeting downwards after getting to the end of this tale.It's their little minds trying to grasp the concept of not taking an eye for an eye or, in this case, a lollipop for a lollipop.And I won't blame you a jot if you tear up just a little bit at the end of this book.

I was going to sum all this up by saying that kids like comeuppance stories, but who am I kidding?Adults, for crying out loud, like comeuppance stories.They like to see the "villain" of a piece get a taste of their own medicine.There are hundreds of stories out there like that.Far rarer is the story that believably shows one character letting another one off the hook for no reason other than the fact that it's the right thing to do.And remarkably, Khan does it without plunging into some kind of wild didacticism.This story is different.Show don't tell, they say.Khan shows.The results are telling.One of my favorite picture books of the year.

Ages 4-8.

This is an adorable story of sibling rivalry that will not only tickle your youngster's funny bone, but also yours!
Rubina was sooooo excited that she had been invited to a birthday party she ran all the way home from school to tell her Ami about it.She had the invitation in her hand and her eyes glistened when her Ami asked, "What's a birthday party?"Ami listened as she fed their youngest sister, Maryam.Rubina's sister, Sana, started to wail and pout, "I wanna go too!"For goodness sake, this was NOT something you took your little sister to.It was embarrassing, but she was just going to have to call Sally up and ask if the little pest could go.

It was an embarrassment, a total one.Sana pitched a fit when she fell down when they were playing musical chairs and had to "win all the games."They did get some nice little party favors, including a big red lollipop.Rubina was going to save hers for later, but her sister "didn't know how to make things last."She was going to savor hers in the morning, but when she got up you know who had eaten it down to a little triangle."SANA!"Needless to say, Rubina wasn't going to be a party girl for a long time because she was stuck with her little sister.Then one day Sana came home with an invitation.Her eyes glistened as she asked Ami if she could go.All of a sudden Maryam began to scream, "I wanna go to!"Waaaaaaaah!

This is an adorable story of sibling rivalry that will not only tickle your youngster's funny bone, but also yours.Anyone who has two or more children will chuckle when the girls spat, demanding that they have been direly wronged by her sister.The artwork captures the little nuances of jealousy, anger, frustration, and ultimately the love shared by the girls.If you've ever experienced the "crisis" of children disagreeing with each another, you'll get a big kick out of Rubina, Sana, and Maryam! ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of stories and poems about Muslim children from a variety of backgrounds, focusing on the celebration of holidays and practices of Islam. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Great book
I enjoyed this book. I do think this is a book for all children , it has great stiries for the whole family. I love to read this book to my daughter.

Hopeful
I can only hope that this brilliant book helpd educate muslims and non-muslims about the true beauty of Islam.

An excellent resource
My favorite short stroy is the Black Ghost.The children run from fear of her and her young son is dreadfully embarrassed until the black ghost rescues one of the boys.Reaching out from under her black abaya, the mysterious woman is soft and gentle.The young boys confront their friend, "You never told us you had such a nice mother."

Children's Nonfiction

Not only for muslim children
This book is so informative and well-written it should be in every muslim house.However, this book is not only very good for muslim children, it is also an excellent book for non-muslim children to read and learn more about islam.It can be used as an excellent tool in a classroom to dispel any misconceptions non-muslim children may carry against their muslim classmates.They will be able to learn more about prayer, fasting, eid and other things that their muslim classmates and friends follow in their lives.

Should be read by all educators and anyone who works with diverse populations.
This is a wonderful book. It's informative, non-judgemental, and non-proselytizing. I was especially impressed that the authors managed to tell a series of situational stories from a child's point of view. My favorite was the one about the little boy who becomes separated from his parents at Mecca and finds shelter with a kindly old man.This book covers such topics as Muslim minority children having to choose between adherences to their religion, e.g. forgoing observance of prayer times and dietary restrictions for the sake of convenience and fitting in with the crowd. I could feel the self-consciousness myself when a little boy overhears his friends mistaken his mother for a ghost after being frightened by her veil, and the guilt when a young girl succumbs to temptation and devours the delicious candies that contain pork byproducts.

... Read more

Product Description
Word count: 2745. ... Read more

Product Description
Mahvish Khan is an American lawyer, born to immigrant Afghan parents in Michigan. Outraged that her country was illegally imprisoning people at Guantanamo, she volunteered to translate for the prisoners. She spoke their language, understood their customs, and brought them Starbucks chai, the closest available drink to the kind of tea they would drink at home. And they quickly befriended her, offering fatherly advice as well as a uniquely personal insight into their plight, and that of their families thousands of miles away.For Mahvish Khan the experience was a validation of her Afghan heritageas well as her American freedoms, which allowed her to intervene at Guantanamo purely out of her sense that it was the right thing to do. Mahvish Khan's story is a challenging, brave, and essential test of who she is and who we are. ... Read more

Product Description
Many Windows is a collection of seven stories about six children who are in the same class at school, two white boys, a black girl, a Chinese girl, an Indian girl, and a Pakistani boy.They are not friends, but they all come together in one community at the end of the stories. Each story in the collection centers on a different celebration within the faith of that child, and in the appendix at the back of the book, each of the celebrations is explained in more depth, as it is celebrated within that faith community: Bhuddism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism and Hinduism. Each story represents a window into the life of the child, or, from a different point of view, the child's window looking out to the world. ... Read more