Our Top 10 2018 Islamic Book Recommendations for children!

As we come to the end of year 2018, I thought it was time to share some of our Children’s Islamic Books that we have encountered this year and that we highly recommend. In no particular order, below are our top 10 favourite Islamic Books for Children from this year including mini reviews.

Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns – A Muslim Book of Colours

We bought this book – Golden Domes and Silver Lanterns: A Muslim Book of Colors just in time for Ramadan at a time when my 3 year old was learning colours. I love how the book incoorporates Islamic themes such as Ramadan, quran, zakat, hijab with colours and rhyme! The pictures are vibrant and so beautifully laid out! I highly recommend it! Available on Amazon and if you’re in Saudi, you can purchase it from Little Book, Red Sea Mall, Jeddah.

Zara and Hakeem learn Alhamdulillah and Hakeem learns as-Salaamualaykum

This series of books by a new upcoming Muslim Author Shabeena Rehman (who also happens to be related to me) has been a delight for us this year. The hard back books cover key Islamic phrases such as Alhamdulillah, As-Salaamualaikum and many more in a fun and engaging way for our young children. I love the simplicity of the writing making it easy to read to young kids and the repetitive nature of the phrases allows for children to easily pick up the Arabic phrases. Perfect for children aged between 3 and 6 year olds. For more on how to add this to your library – click here.

Ramadan Moon

We thoroughly enjoyed this book – Ramadan Moon this Ramadan and based a lot of our activities around this book. Na’ima B Robert has a beautiful way with words using rich language and some rhyme. This is a must have for Ramadan!

Nusaiba and the 5th Grade Bullies

Although this book has been on our bookshelf for a while, it was only recently that my 5 year old took an interest. Asmaa Hussein (another fave author in our house) has a unique way of telling stories. This story focuses on Nusaiba and the 5th Grade Bullies The concept of bulling is covered in the story and the Islamic theme is hijab but a nice twist at the end shows courage and clarification. I’d probably recommend it for 5-8 year olds with great discussions and writing prompts at the end of the story!

Ramadan Around the World

This superb book by Ndaa Hassan is a must have in all your homes! Not only does it fabulously cover Ramadan experiences around the world, it also highlights the diversity of children by featuring a child on a wheelchair and another with autism. I love the inclusiveness of this book. It’s a great conversation starter with your children during Ramadan. The book shares Ramadan experiences from America to Mexico, Brazil, Senegal, Palestine, Morocco, Australia, Malaysia and more. It’s such a well thought out children’s story book with fabulous pictures and vibrant colours, I can’t recommend it enough. Available on Amazon here.

Yan’s Hajj The Journey of a Lifetime

We ordered this book just in time before Eid ul Adha so focused on this story of Yan’s Hajj: The Journey of a Lifetime . In my first reading of the story to my kids, I literally had tears in my eyes. It’s a beautiful beautiful book. It’s centred around a farmer called Yan who dreams about going for Hajj, he works hard and saves money but along his journey he shows true kindness and helps those in need with his Hajj money and returns home to save again. This happens a few times until the end he is finally able to go for Hajj. There are so many lessons in this story for children and adults too! Highly recommend this book!

Princess Noura and the monster in the Sky

My girls love the Princess Series books. This year we focused some more on Princess Noura and the Monster in the Sky (Princess Series) and now its become a favourite! Not only did it tie in perfectly with our light and dark theme but we also got to learn some more about fireflies. A fab story with great morals to be discussed at the end of the story.

The Prophet’s Faithful Friend

We love this story and had to purchase it because we happen to actually live right near the mountain where Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his faithful friend Abu Bakr Sadeeq hid whilst migrating to Medina. We love the details behind this great Hijrah (migration) and the rhyme makes it an enjoyable read. The easy language and pictures make it very engaging for my children. I highly recommend for children aged 5-8 years. For more on where to purchase it click here: The The Prophet’s Faithful Friend: The Story of the Great Hijrah

My First Quran with Pictures

This book is definitely one you all need on your bookshelves! My First Quran With Pictures: Juz’ Amma Part 1 It really is one of its kind and something completely new. The book covers 25 surahs from the 30th Juzz of the Quran, covering surah Naas to Surah Balad. For my full review on this book, click here. I cannot recommend it enough. It has helped us immensly in our Quran learning being able to visually understand the surah we are reading or memorising.

It Must have been you!

No book recommendation list is complete without a Zanib Mian book. She is one of our favourite authors. My 3 year old in particular has really enjoyed It Must Have Been You this year. She loves the illustrations, the rhyme and laughs whenever I read the rhymes. We have read it a few times at our poetry tea time afternoons and my girls have loved it every time. Great rhyme, story telling and illustrations.

Which of these books are your favourite? Do you have any other books you would recommend?

For more on our favourite Ramadan books click here and 2017’s recommendations here.