Monday, October 14, 2013

Book Review - Nabeel's New Pants


Nabeel's New Pants: An Eid Tale

Retold by: Fawzia Giliani-Williams
Illustrated by: Proiti Roy
Publisher: Two Lions
Publication Date: April 2010
ISBN: 978-0761456292
Reviewed by: Deb Fowler
Review Date: October 2013

Ramadan was over and everyone was preparing for Eid. Nabeel was a shoemaker and his day had been so busy that he didn’t have a single shoe in his shop. He decided to go on a shopping excursion and buy his family some special gifts so they would look nice for the holiday. He bought his wife a beautiful blue burga, a dupatta for his mother, and some pretty bangles for his daughter at Hamza’s Shop. He wanted to please them and worked hard making the best choices he could.

Hamza noticed that Nabeel’s pants were patched and worn and convinced him to purchase a pair of pants, but he didn’t have time to shorten them. Nabeel left the shop with pants “four fingers too long,” but was certain his wife would shorten them. Yasmeen was delighted with her burga, but had no time to shorten the pants because she had to make biryani for Eid. His mother, Habiba was very pleased with her blue dupatta, but had to make sheerkorma for Eid. Miriam was equally busy and it looked like Nabeel was going to have to figure out what to do with those pants, but what could he do?

This tale about the celebration of Eid and the special love Nabeel’s family had for him is delightfully humorous and heartwarming. Many children have learned about Ramadan in school, but few know about the celebration of Eid. This book is an excellent stepping stone to learning about the celebration. The book is presented in a fable-like manner, something that is very appealing and makes it quite interesting. There is a glossary in the front explaining many of the words or phrases. For example we learn that Wa alaijum salaam (wa-Lay-kum sa- LAM) is “a common response to the greeting ‘Asalaamu alaijum,’ meaning ‘And upon you be peace.’” This book would be a lovely edition to your holiday collection for your homeschool, classroom, or library shelves!

Quill says: If you're doing a unit on holidays around the world, or simply want to learn about other cultures, this is an excellent, heartwarming tale to introduce children to Eid.




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