Can Mustafa Control His Anger?

Genre: Early Reader Chapter Book⠀

Ages: 6-9

Price: 9.50 CAD⠀

Available:@compassbooks⠀

Islamic notes: mean words/lost of hitting and anger.⠀

⠀

Summary: Mustafa is an angry kid. He loses his temper and resorts to hitting when he doesn’t get what he wants. Pretty soon, he feels lonely because no one wants to play with him. He sees his anger become a red ball of fire that tells him that he will be weak until he can control it. He goes to the forest where he meets a giant named Haneef. Haneef takes him along a journey with three instances where instead of getting angry, Haneef does a prophetic solution to anger. By the end, Mustafa learns that he has to control his anger.⠀

⠀

My thoughts: the story of Mustafa was a little mystical and fairy-tale like. It was interesting, but I wish that it included more instances where Mustafa himself decides to stop being angry. By the end, it seemed a little unrealistic that he just learned his lesson by observing others. ⠀

⠀

The anger reactions from Mustafa were also pretty harsh, which made him unlikable. I was shocked when he threw a plate at his sister!! Where are the adults in this situation?⠀

⠀

I really liked the prophetic solutions to anger and the references in the back with more ahadith and discussion questions to teach kids about controlling their anger. This was even useful to me.⠀

⠀

Overall, it was a nice early reader to facilitate discussion about why its important to control anger, though it might be a bit too much for sensitive kids.

Follow @muslimmommyblog on Instagram and Facebook for more!