Hoyt-Goldsmith follows a young boy, Ibraheem, and his family during Ramadan. To make this holy month understandable, the author has included some background information about Islam in sidebars and integrated into the text. People of diverse cultural backgrounds practice Islam in the US; this variety is demonstrated in the text throughout the book and reinforced in the photographs of the celebration of Eid al-Fitr in the family’s mosque in Princeton, New Jersey. Pronunciation of Arabic words and phrases is given in parentheses inserted into the text. There are both glossary and index, but no bibliography. The book is illustrated with clear, often charming, full-color photographs and one map. But the work does have its flaws. The status of women in Islam, a fairly complex subject, is reduced to one sentence. Captions on some photographs could have been clearer and more consistent. For example, one picture of a young girl with henna designs on her hands is included, but the correct term for this art form, mehndi, is not given. Despite omissions and minor inconsistencies, Celebrating Ramadan provides a respectful, if superficial, introduction to Islam and Ramadan’s importance in that religious practice. It can’t help but be useful to librarians and teachers because of the rapidly increasing numbers of Islamic people in the US and the scarcity of books for children on the subject. (Nonfiction. 8-11)
Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-8234-1581-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Holiday House
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2001
In a bouncing rhyme, Jesse Bear (Let’s Count It Out, Jesse Bear, 1996, etc.) celebrates Halloween. As usual, Jesse has the niftiest of festivities while solving a very typical child difficulty. He goes with his parents and grandmother to pick their own pumpkin, comes home to carve it, and then goes up to the attic. It’s a veritable treasure trove of stuff, and Papa and Mama dress up in vampire fangs and tutu. Jesse is overcome by his own scary mask, but is soon reassured by the familiarity of neighbors, parents, and friends in costume. Pumpkin lights festoon a trellis, neighbors sing a “wobbly goblin song,” and Jesse and his parents go home to a feast made by his grandparents. It’s a dream Halloween, indeed. (Picture book. 3-6)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-689-81961-7
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A grand, if unsubtle, cousin to William Joyce’s Santa Calls (1993). Smug little rich girl Sophie Kringle has a great-aunt who lives in high style atop the palatial Bing Cherry Hotel, vacating only for her mysterious annual “business trip” between Halloween and Valentine’s Day. One year, Sophie stows away in Auntie Claus’s luggage, and ends up at the North Pole, pressed into hard service as an elf. When she catches sight of the Bad-Boys-And-Girls list, and finds her little brother’s name on it, she reacts with uncharacteristic, newly mustered compassion, erasing his name and adding her own in it’s place; suddenly she’s sharing a stage with Auntie, who turns out to be Santa’s sister and, having learned that it is better to give than to receive (“the first and final rule,” as Auntie calls it), is whisked home just in time for Christmas. Tall and slender in fur-trimmed red, Auntie Claus cuts as elegant a figure amidst the North Pole’s snowy bustle as she does in her sparsely appointed New York digs; most of Primavera’s expansive scenes are underlit to add an air of mystery, and presided over by looming background figures: Santa, the Statue of Liberty, a huge, moon-faced snowman. A promising bid for holiday bestsellerdom. (Picture book. 6-8)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-15-201909-X
Page Count: 40
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1999
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