- MuslimMommyblog
Littering Stinks
Age recommendation: 6-8 (1st grade-3rd)⠀ ⠀ Islamic screening: completely clean⠀ ⠀ This adorable chapter book from @compassbooks (written by Sumayyah Hussein, who happens to be Ruqaya's Bookshelf founder Asmaa’s sister!) is an absolutely wonderful uplifting and empowering story for young elementary kids.⠀ ⠀ Aliyah is a young girl that moved from Freshtown to a town called Dumpton! (This was pretty funny) Sure enough, the town is an absolute dump, with trash and bad smells everywhere. Aliyah hates this and decides to change it. She makes a list of things to do, but nothing on the list works. Just as she is discouraged, some advice from her parents inspires her to make t-shirts that include anti-litter slogans like “Littering Stinks”. Slowly, with the help of her school principal, this fashion trend catches on until everyone start wearing the shirts and the town is inspired to clean.⠀ ⠀ The book is an easy read for young readers and is probably modeled similar to traditional young reader books. It is seven chapters, approximately 33 pages, with a big clear font, and occasional black/white pictures.⠀ ⠀ I really liked how the book flowed, as well as the nice resolution. One thing to improve: I wanted to see the tension be stronger. Do kids really care that much about messes and litter, or stinky smells? (My own kids seem to prefer messes to cleanliness and my son, and all boys it seems, thinks stinky smells are funny!) I feel like had the litter affected Aliyah in a different stronger way (maybe she slipped on a banana peel and fell and broke her arm or something), the reason for her wanting to change the town would feel stronger to the reader.⠀ ⠀ I like the concept of teaching our kids about being clean and taking care of the Earth that Allah created. Keep in mind that the book doesn’t outright contain Islamic quotes, but the main character is Muslim and their morals are in line with the hadith about removing trash from the street being an act of charity.
This book is perfect for little Muslim readers and schools! ⠀ price: 7.50 CA
Follow @MuslimMommyblog on Instagram and Facebook for more.
