MOON'S RAMADAN

An anthropomorphic, feminized moon observes and celebrates with Muslims across the world as they partake in Ramadan festivities.

As Moon glides over the Earth, her visible new crescent marks the beginning of Ramadan for Muslims all over the world. Starting in Egypt, Moon moves through majority Muslim and nonmajority Muslim countries (a label on the bottom of each spread indicates each nation as well as, oddly, a city—Dubai), waxing and waning throughout the month. Moon celebrates with Muslims of different cultures, skin tones, ages, body types, and abilities actively engaged in evening activities of Ramadan, including good deeds and charity. Women are depicted with and without hijab, in various styles including niqab, while young girls are not portrayed wearing headscarves. The illustrations, an inviting blend of scanned watercolor textures and digital pencil, are in evening tones of blue and purple and portray culturally specific clothing and food, while endpapers are a pattern of repeated moon phases. While the text is upbeat, readers may find some elements of the story curious or confusing; in one scene, the steam coming off a plate of freshly baked bread at a meal contains a vision of an interfaith meal—it’s unclear whether this is a real moment or an imagined one. Though some spreads use country-specific words or phrases, other pages—and the glossary—default to Arabic or South Asian terms as standard. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

A sweet, if inconsistent, addition to the shelf of books about Ramadan.