A tasty Ramadan treat.
A diverse group of Muslim neighbors prepare for their annual community meal.
It’s Ramadan, and the inhabitants of Rahma Road can’t wait for their iftar, the breaking of the fast. Everyone’s working hard to prepare their most delicious dishes to share. Great for reading straight through or skipping around, this cookbook covers Ramadan basics (What happens during Ramdan? Why is the iftar so significant?), highlights its importance for Muslims, and shows the care that goes into iftar, all while sharing recipes representative of the global Muslim community. The recipes are thoughtfully curated—from Nigerian jollof rice to Pakistani chicken tikka to Mexican elotes—and range in difficulty. The book alludes to the level of supervision required by noting which character is completing each step. The recipes are clearly written, with ingredient lists in metric and imperial units. Each includes a description of the dish, serving size, and preparation and cooking times. Community iftars are much-anticipated events for many Muslims during Ramadan, and Sohrabi’s brightly colored digital illustrations warmly capture that spirit. Some specialty ingredients are required, but backmatter advises readers to check the international aisles of local grocery stores; also included are important definitions, additional recipes, and an authors’ note.
A tasty Ramadan treat. (Picture book. 5-11)Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9798888593646
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 14, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely.
A child finds adventure and a change of perspective on a dreary day.
Clouds cover everything in a palette of unending gray, creating a sense of ennui and gloom. A child stands alone, head down, feeling as gray as the day, and decides to ride through town on an old bike. Pops of color throughout the grayscale illustrations go unnoticed—there are yellow leaves scattered about, and the parking lot is filled with bright yellow buses, but this child, who has skin the grayish white of the page, sees only the empty playground, creaky swings, a sad merry-go-round, and lonely seesaws. But look—there’s a narrow winding path just beyond the fence, something to explore. There are things to be noticed, leaves to be crunched, and discoveries to be made. Imagination takes over, along with senses of wonderment and calm, as the child watches a large blue bird fly over the area. The ride home is quite different, joyful and filled with color previously ignored, reaffirming the change in the rider’s outlook. The descriptive, spare text filled with imagery and onomatopoeia is well aligned with well-rendered art highlighting all the colors that brighten the not-so-gray day and allowing readers to see what the protagonist struggles to understand, that “anything can happen…on a gray day.” (This book was reviewed digitally.)
Quietly contemplative and thoroughly lovely. (Picture book. 5-9)Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023
ISBN: 9781797210896
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
A touching, beautifully illustrated story of greatest interest to those in the New York City area.
A pair of cardinals is separated and then reunited when their tree home is moved to New York City to serve as the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree.
The male cardinal, Red, and his female partner, Lulu, enjoy their home in a huge evergreen tree located in the front yard of a small house in a pleasant neighborhood. When the tree is cut down and hauled away on a truck, Lulu is still inside the tree. Red follows the truck into the city but loses sight of it and gets lost. The birds are reunited when Red finds the tree transformed with colored lights and serving as the Christmas tree in a complex of city buildings. When the tree is removed after Christmas, the birds find a new home in a nearby park. Each following Christmas, the pair visit the new tree erected in the same location. Attractive illustrations effectively handle some difficult challenges of dimension and perspective and create a glowing, magical atmosphere for the snowy Christmas trees. The original owners of the tree are a multiracial family with two children; the father is African-American and the mother is white. The family is in the background in the early pages, reappearing again skating on the rink at Rockefeller Center with their tree in the background.
A touching, beautifully illustrated story of greatest interest to those in the New York City area. (author’s note) (Picture book. 5-8)Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-7636-7733-6
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: Aug. 20, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2017
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