Alexis York Lumbard

This book had me hooked from the beginning. Hackers? Check. Edge of your seatness? Check. Didn’t want it to end? Check. An amazing story of one who fights for her rights and fights back to save her family. Salma’s detective skills were amazingly written. The scenes at school, when Salma was being bullied, not just by students but by educators and administrators had me squirming and wanting to slap these people for treating her so badly, just because of her religion. To point fingers without understanding and knowing the facts angered me. The love story between Salma and Amir was one of true love, not a typical teenager romance. Definitely a solid read for YA.… (más)

I've been looking forward to reading Everyone Prays, as I appreciate any book that helps kids to understand the similarities between different religions and that expands their understanding of the world. And Everyone Prays does that...to an extent.

The illustrations do indeed show people all around the world, of all different religions, praying in their own ways. Unfortunately, the text accompanying the illustrations is somewhat simplistic. I was hoping for more information about each scene along the way. Instead, all the information on religions and the different scenes in the back is crammed into a text-heavy two-page spread at the end of the book. Yet there were some illustrated pages that had large amounts of white space. Surely a bit more information, even just labels as to the locations or religions, could have been fit throughout the book?

All in all, Everyone Prays shows children what you'd expect, everyone praying, but I would only recommend it for young children, who will mainly want to look at the pictures and won't mind the simplicity and lack of information. For older kids, I'd recommend books with more in-depth information.

Note: I received a digital galley of this book through NetGalley.… (más)

The Gift of Ramadan

I Picked Up This Book Because: I wanted to learn about Ramadan.

Media Type: Digital
Source: CCP Library
Dates Read: 4/12/21
Stars: 4.5 Stars

The Story:

A short and sweet bedtime tale about Ramadan and the celebration of it in one family. The illustrations are absolutely beautiful. The information is clear, concise and easy to understand.

The Random Thoughts:… (más)