A guest post from Nida'a Moghrabi (@supernido)
Growing up in the eighties, I remember enjoying the Arabic books published by "Al-Maktabah Al-Khadra'". I read the stories until I memorized them. But I'm not here to talk about my experience, I'm here to talk about my daughter Mariyah's. Living in the US makes the whole idea of introducing her to books so easy and full of fun. We read at home and play/read at the bookstore, we attend story-telling there too! It's one of her favourite places to go to.
Most of the English books Mariyah has were given to her as gifts by mothers or friends who have read the same books when they were little.
Reading to Mariyah -and to her baby sister Selma- is something sacred. I make sure I read to them both at separate times, and sometimes together. Mariyah loves reading and memorizing whole pages from different books. She "helps" me reading and she "fixes" my mistakes too. That's kind of fun.
Then at some point teaching her the Arabic alphabet was not enough. I always wondered how I could make her enjoy the language and actually love it and be proud of it and it's beauty. I had in mind that once she turns 5 I'm going to get her the Jordanian schools' Arabic curriculum books.
And then something beautiful happened!
I discovered Arabic children's books by Kalimat Publishing. I fell in love with their books and wondered why we weren't this lucky when we were kids. I mean Look...
In addition to many others, I got her this book because she LOVES the moon. She is the happiest when she spots it during day time, I mean in daylight. She knows that once the moon is up, it's time to sleep and when the sun is up she knows the moon goes to Amman and so tete has to go to bed.
Aaaaand I got her this one, this particular one for a very VERY special occasion that I won't talk about here now...But I will do so soon soon insha'Allah :)
These books are worth a lot in our home. She only knows about the 1st book so far. She enjoys reading her book over and over and OVER again! I'm giving her the second one as a gift tomorrow after her Ballet class.
They also worth a lot because the shipment from the Middle East was fairly costly. But to be honest, it's all worth it. The books themselves are really affordable. The material they're made of and the drawings/coloring, the simple and fun stories, the finishing, the covers...everything about them is beautiful.
I'm just glad I got them and I'm glad my little girl loves her books. She asked us about دولاب الهواء، السكاكر و الأراجيح so we took her to San Mateo County Fair where she experienced the whole thing herself. Now she can't wait for Eid!
Neither can I. Because I promised her a beautiful pair of blue shoes for next Eid, just like in one of her stories...
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You can browse similar books by Kalimat publishing in our bookstore, and catch up with Nida'a at her blog - www.jeedos.com
