Reading with Maryam – Discovering Muslim Children’s Books that Delight and Inspire

Under the Ramadan Moon. By Sylvia Whitman. Illustrated by Sue Williams. (Albert Whitman, 2008). As a three-year-old, my daughter insisted on reading this book nightly for many weeks. She was most captivated by the lovely illustrations and musical refrains – “under the moon, under the moon, under the Ramadan moon.” I was drawn to the warmth and diversity of the families in the book: Some women wear the headscarf, others don’t, and they appear to be of different ethnicities.

In one picture, men and women pray in the same space at the mosque. (Compare that to another recent children’s book on Ramadan, which calls out the fact that “Mama and my sister pray together in a different room.”)  Most importantly, each page brims with love, whether it’s the love of families drinking tea together, swinging with their children, or giving to the poor.