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The Star That Fell by Karen Hayles and Cliff Wright
This picture book with beautiful life-like water colour illustrations caught my eye at a second-hand bookstore. Published by Ladybird, I was immediately curious to see if the story is as good as it looks.
The story begins with:
“One night a star fell…”
and we are taken on the little star’s adventure in the woods as it meets different animals who do different things with it.
Finally, the star is brought to a little girl named Maddy. After a chat with her father, Maddy makes an incredibly selfless move that leads to a happy ending for all.
Children will learn about animals’ habits and habitats while adults will enjoy reading the book aloud with their kids.
Most importantly, a child will take delight in the animals the bright star meets in its adventure and the little girl’s actions when she finds it.
An excellent “do-the-right-thing” book without sonding preachy.
Knowing that this 1996 book is now out-of-print has made my used copy more precious. I only wish that the previous owner (or the parents) had the sense not to deface the book cover with a crude felt tip pen drawing of a face on the star!
Synopsis: Come to the farm and meet all sorts of animals: a cow, a pig, a horse, and a rooster. Pull the tab to see their colours magically appear.
I stumbled upon this cased board book for my toddler while browsing for books that will amuse him and hold his attention. Did it do the trick? You bet!
This is a wonderfully creative book that features bold, colour illustrations of a farm backdrop. One by one, the farm animals are introduced until the last page when they gathered together.
The “magical” part of the book is a tab on each page that transforms the individual farm animal from a black-and-white marker pen outline into its unique colours. [Read more →]
This book is about 16 year old Amal, a Palestinian-Australian-Muslim girl who decides to wear a hijab as she enters Year 11 in an Australian high school.
The author, Randa aims to write a book that “allowed readers to enter the world of the average Muslim teenage girl and see past the headlines and stereotypes; to realize that she was experiencing the same dramas and challenges of adolescence as her non-Muslim peers”.
I was hooked after the first few pages as Randa draws us quickly into Amal’s life in an easy-to-read, conversational and witty way. My interest was piqued when I read that she attended a Catholic primary school because an Islamic one was too far from home.
Her experience there reveals the peer pressure that non-Christian students feel attending a missionary school. A funny incident at Confession shows us the dilemma Amal is in as she struggles between trying to fit in, being Muslim and being polite at the same time!
Reading the book, I had a first-person view of what it’s like being a Muslim in a non-Muslim country. The teenage years are tough enough with acne problems, boys, sex, studies and the future WITHOUT the complications of Amal’s different faith.
The book’s theme of the journey to personal identity is shown in her experience with an anti-Muslim radio programme on the public bus, with the cool crowd in school, while applying for a part-time job and the day the Sept 11 news broke out in Australia.
They also show us just how many problems Muslims have going through daily life in the Western world.
The theme of cultural identity e.g. of Muslim women suffering for their faith is explored through one of mal’s best friends, Leila, a brainy beauty who struggles daily with her ultra-traditional mother.
Together with another Muslim friend, Yasmeen, Amal tries to keep Leila’s spirits up as she battles daily with her mother’s old-fashioned views on education, work and marriage.
While the girls laugh over Leila’s mother’s old-fashioned practice of Islam, they don’t realize how serious her mother’s frozen-in-time belief of Islam is until something drastic happens.
Randa also shows that even adults experience a cultural identity crisis - Amal’s family members and Greek neighbour are still struggling even years after settling down in Australia:
Her father’s brother’s family - Uncle “Joe” (Ismail) and Aunt Mandy (Aysha) who go all out to appear as Aussie as possible by accepting non-Halal foods, not fasting during Ramadhan and assuming Western names, speech patterns and lifestyles.
They remind me so much of the The Coopers (Kapoors) and Robinsons (Rabindaraths) who are comic British Indian characters in the BBC comedy “Goodness Gracious Me!”
Mrs. Vaselli - The eldery Greek lady is estranged from her only son due to a misunderstanding. Strong to her Greek roots, she asserts that it’s out out of the question for her to re-establish familial ties. Also, she goes about her daily affairs highly suspicious and overtly prejudiced towards Amal and her family.
Only Amal’s parents have both feet on the ground. They are two professionals who take a realistic stand about being Muslims in modern Australian society yet they stay true to their culture and faith. Her Mum shows readers that Muslim mothers are just like any other mother i.e. worrying about calories, transfat, BMI and looking fat but all these thoughts fly out of the window the minute she entertains guests at her home.
The theme of friendship is also examined in the book as Amal has two sets of friends – her Muslim friends from her hidayah (Muslim school) and her “secular” school friends, Eileen, a Japanese and Simone, a white Aussie. At first, Amal keeps discussions on issues about her faith to her Muslim friends and keeps to “secular” topics with her school friends. Later, she realizes that she didn’t have to segregate her friends that way after all.
The book also sparked my curiosity about Palestinian cuisine as Amal’s Mum prepares a feast of mansaf (rice, chicken with pine nuts) fatoosh and warak areb (vine leaves with spicy rice). I hope that I’ll be able to savour some one day as they sound yummy!
I find that the book reads like Melina Marchetta’s “Looking for Alibrandi” as there are similar struggles with:
identity,
prejudice,
peer pressure,
boys and
an unusual friendship with an elderly person who reveals her past (Amal’s Greek neighbour, Mrs. Vaselli reminds me strongly of Josie Alibrandi’s Nonna).
While Amal is as intelligent as Josie, I personally don’t find her as strong a character. Many a time, I find that she’s too self-conscious and paranoid despite her clear, logical thinking and quick wit – it’s fortunate that she realizes this too at the end of the book.
This is what I like best about the book - Amal doesn’t adopt a martyr-like, holier-than-thou attitude (as sometimes is the case with girls who wear the hijab).
Having taught Year 12 English, I would certainly recommend this book to the young adult’s reading list.
Does My Head Look Big In This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks
ISBN: 978-0439922333
Ok, I really need the experts on Chinese culture and customs to help me out on this one. As my father had recently passed away, I’m wondering if I can celebrate Chinese New Year?
When he died:
…my Mum was prohibited from visiting my cousin (or even my auntie’s house) as she’d recently gotten married.
…none of [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/ABananaInChina/~4/412856838" height="1" width="1"/>
, I had a first-person view of what it’s like being a Muslim in a non-Muslim country. The teenage years are tough enough with acne problems, boys, sex, studies and the future WITHOUT the complications of Amal’s different faith.
