Bilal and Mr. Shells: The Miraculous Life of Isa (as) by Farah Elmoudani

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BOOK REVIEW 📚

Title: Bilal and Mr.Shells: The Miraculous Life of Isa (a.s.)

Author: Farah Elmoudani @bilal_and_mr._shells

Illustrator: Hiyam El-Abbas

Publisher: Prolance Publishing

Type: Fiction/Non-Fiction

Age: 3-11

Rating: 7/10 🌟

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Islamic Content: Life of Isa (a.s)

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Concerns: Maryam (a.s.) depicted on one page

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Summary:

Bilal, his cat Milo and his best pal Mr. Shells go for a walk when suddenly heavy rain and a scary storm appear. Suddenly, Milo is overcome by fear and slips off of Bilal's grip. It is almost nighttime and they worry about Milo's safety. Mr. Shells reassures Bilal that miracles do happen. So together, they embark on a journey to Jerusalem to learn about a special someone whose birth and life was a miracle: prophet Isa (a.s.). Shaykh Hamza begins the story from Jibril's visit with Maryam, miraculous birth, his speech as a newborn and his various abilities until he was raised up to the sky by the mercy of Allah.

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Review:

This is a nice and simple summary of the story of Isa (a.s.) that highlights the most important points of his miraculous life. It is direct to the point without dwelling into details to lose the interest of the reader. The text is written in rhyme but it takes a few times to read to get the flow just right. I am quite happy with the kid-friendly language for the easy comprehension of the listeners. The parts of the story where Qur'an was used as a source, the ayah was referenced, which is what we love to see. The illustrations are so adorable from beginning to end. Unfortunately, Maryam was depicted from the back on one of the pages. Also, when I first read the story, I expected that they visit masjid al Aqsa and tie that into the story but it didn't. I do love that the characters recognize that the miracles happen by the permission and will of Allah (swt). The little ones will get an introduction of Prophet Isa's story (a.s.) through this book.

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Available: @prolancepublishing, Amazon

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Apr 10/2020