My Grandma and Me

I love this book! The author does such a wonderful job writing a book that shows the diversity of the Iran setting and character and yet also shows the commonality across all cultures for the love between a grandma and her grandchild.⠀

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Mina looks up to her grandmother, and she loves to follow her all day and copy her tasks. The book shows the grandma waking up for “the dawn namaz” (fajr prayer) and Mina waking up too! The book shows Mina lie on her grandma’s back as she prayed, which was so relatable to my kids-as they do that to me and their dad when we pray. (This in fact was done to the Prophet (pbuh) by his grandchildren Al-Hasan and Al-Husayn and he used to prolong his sujood to prolong their playing❤️). ⠀

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Mina’s neighbor, Annette, is a Christain and their grandmothers are best friends too. I loved how they both held on to their faith, and prayed for each other to go to heaven in their respective places of worship, and also love spending time together doing every day acts like knitting and drinking coffee together. The reality of my memories in Syria, my life in America, and even what I have heard throughout the Middle East, are that different faiths really do live side by side and love each other and are friends, and the beauty of coexisting really breaks stereotypes about Islamic countries in this book and was beautiful to see! (It is based on the author’s true life)⠀

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The book also talks about the grandma’s chador (her long hijab/abaya outfit) and talks about the beauty and significance behind the grandma and Mina (occasionally) wearing it.⠀

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Mina’s grandmother also fasts, and even though Mina is too young, she likes to eat suhoor and Iftar with her grandma too! The book shows Ramadan rituals and going to the mosque, as well as the grandma’s kindness in giving food to a homeless person. ⠀

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This book is full of morals and beauty, and my favorite part is how it shows through the grandma’s actions that kindness and gentleness is what Islam is all about-thus dispelling stereotypes about Islam and Iran!⠀

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Thank you @candlewickpress for a wonderful book!⠀

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Get yours from @amazonbooks

link: https://amzn.to/3avUiON

price: 13 usd

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