Little Batul's Eid Celebration by Munise Ulker
📚 BOOK REVIEW 📚
Title: Little Batul's Eid Celebration
Author: Munise Ulker
Illustrator: Beyza Soylu
Publisher: Tughra Books
Age: 7-11
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Islamic Content: Eid ul-Adha
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Concerns: Christmas, Halloween
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Summary:
This year Eid ul-Adha falls around Christmas season and Batul sees the hype around it so wonders what the Eid holidays mean to us. Batul remembers how Eid ul-Adha is celebrated back home with his grandparents while he is preparing to celebrate with his family
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Review:
Out local bookshop carried one copy of this book and I purchased it on a whim. To begin with, this book is too lengthy for a picture book a lot of narration happens but there is no actual plot to keep the kids engaged. Discusses Christmas, mentions enjoying halloween candy, talks about Eid celebrations back home with grandparents, Eid preparations and celebrations in the US, local orphanages which is confusing because they don't exist in the US. It briefly mentions Ibrahim a.s. and the sacrificing of animals that takes but nothing too detailed. Secondly, am I the only one that is getting annoyed when comparisons are drawn to other holidays? Yes, young kids will likely ask questions, but publishing it in a story, I feel that it is completely unnecessary. Let's write Eid and Hajj stories that highlight the beauty of our holidays for what they are, and not something to be compared to others. This book just tries to cram too many aspects of Eid in one book. Overall, I was disappointed with the approach, it felt like it was all over the place without having one single focus to tell a cohesive story.
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