From a crescent moon to a square garden to an octagonal fountain, this breathtaking picture book celebrates the shapes—and traditions—of the Muslim world. Sure to inspire questions and observations about world religions and cultures, Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets is equally at home in a classroom reading circle and on a parent's lap being read to a child.--from the publisher
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If you and your child like books such as Lailah's Lunchbox, Numbers Colors Shapes, or The Name Jar, you will love Crescent Moons and Pointed Minarets.---from the publisher
32 pages 978-1452155418 Ages 4-7
Keywords: Islam, traditions, diversity, shapes, art, artwork, religion, multicultural, Muslim culture, Social Studies Curriculum, Middle East, culture, 4 year old, 5 year old, 6 year old, 7 year old, math, Math Curriculum, Muslim American author
Companion book: Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors
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"Crescent is the moon, brilliant in the sky. It whispers salaam as the day passes by." "Cone is the tip of the minaret so tall. I hear soft echoes of the prayer call."
I heard Brene Brown speak at the NCTE conference in November of 2017 and she was talking about how to overcome the divide in our country that seems to be widening at this time. One of the four strategies she offered to bring us together, was to lean in and get close. She had seen first hand that it is hard to hate close up.
This beautiful book can bring our children close up to each other. It's important to make familiar what is unfamiliar about our cultures. It's essential to learn to value the beauty, the art, the religion, the kindness, the mothers and the fathers and the families where everyone lives.
In this book each spread is from a different country. (I wish the countries were identified but they are not.) Each spread is a doorway for us to stand in someone else's shoes as we look at the shapes and the art and the faces and imagine ourselves standing there, proud of our heritage, surrounded by what is familiar and comfortable for us and our family.
This book could easily be used in a math class to bring geometric shapes alive. It could be used equally powerfully in an art class or a social studies class to explore shapes and cultures.
Told with a gentleness and an exotic flavor, this is a book that beckons and gives us a place to become at home with new friends on our planet.
Recommended by: Barb Langridge, abookandahug.com
