I enjoyed reading this book. It is an easy read and it is very repetitive, and readers can learn a lot about this religion through this book. ( )

I did not enjoy this book. It was far too simple and not very engaging.

This book is about the holiday Ramadan. It talks about the fasting that occurs, activities that are done and how time is spent during the holiday. The illustrations were done nicely and took up the full page. It helps keep the reader interested in the story. The way the story is written in an almost rhyming pattern keeps the story flowing smoothly. This would be a great book to use when talking about different holidays around the world. It would be even better to have a parent who practices the faith to read to the students and share personal experiences about how they spend Ramadan.

A lovely simple poem about celebrating Ramadan “under the Ramadan moon” with illustrations that tell the story. Soft, lyrical. For Preschool.

With a lyrical text that makes excellent use of repetition - "We wait for the moon. We watch for the moon. We watch for the Ramadan moon." - and soft pastel illustrations that are full of light and warmth, author Sylvia Whitman and illustrator Sue Williams have created a lovely picture-book celebration of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting, in Under the Ramadan Moon. Each two-page spread features friends and family engaged in some activity - reading the Qur'an, visiting friends, giving to the poor - that it is important in this month of religious observance, until the final page - "We live our faith / until next year / under the moon, / under the moon, / under the Ramadan moon." - which brings the narrative to a lovely conclusion.

I really appreciated this picture-book celebration of Ramadan, largely because it is a celebration of this important time in the Islamic year, rather than just an explanation of it. Which is not to say that it isn't informative (there is an excellent afterword by the author, after all, explaining the holiday), just that the text doesn't feel overly didactic. The narrative is simple, and the artwork charming, so I think this one would work well with younger children. For those looking for slightly more advanced stories with this theme, I also recommend Asma Mobin-Uddin's A Party in Ramadan, Hena Khan's Night of the Moon: A Muslim Holiday Story, and Maha Addasi's The White Nights of Ramadan. ( )