by Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona
Looking at the picturebooks left in this text set I came to realize that they have some strong stereotypes about Muslims that add as well as take away from the stories as representatives of the myriad of Muslim cultures.
In Jeanette Winter’s Nasreen’s Secret School & The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq the main premise is of representing strong female Muslim characters. To this end the stories are appropriate and successful. While they shows the protagonist as strong, the peripheral characters are shown as oppressed or oppressive. Further the enemy or the occupiers are not named or differentiated.
Karen Lynn Williams’s and Khadra Mohammed’s Four Feet, Two Sandals presents an unrealistic life on a refugee camp where all the illustrations present a neat and clean environment that the refugees exist in. The squalor and the deprived conditions of refugees are not emphasized in any form. The West is represented as a savior, which takes the audience/reader away from the perception of who is responsible for the condition these refugees are ending up in.
Even though both of the following books are written by the same authors and illustrated by the same illustrator, Ted Lewin, there is a strong contrast between the representations of Muslim voices. Florence Parry Heide’s and Judith Heide Gilliland’s The Day of Ahmed’s Secret & Sami and the Time of Troubles are strong examples of well circulated and accepted children’s literature. The contrast within the two books is that of authenticity and the lack thereof. In The Day of Ahmed’s Secret the issue is that of an inauthentic portrayal of Egyptian life in the present day and age examples of which are the lack of education/illiteracy, camels on streets, child labor, use of and delivery of butane tanks, and most importantly the lack of positive female presence. In Sami in the Time of Troubles, in contrast, there are strong female voices and presence and an authentic portrayal of diverse characters within the Lebanese life.
Even though James Rumford’s Silent Music: A Story of Baghdad is about war and its impact on children; it goes on to embrace the true spirit of a Muslim child who is struggling for his identity as well as freedom. Rumford has written quite a few books set in Muslim countries but non as successfully as this one. His Calabash Cat and The Travelling Man are quit popular.
All of the above mentioned examples are great ones of Muslim voices that can lead strong discussions within the age groups reading them only if the adult guiding the discussion has done research and homework on the various situations represented within the books.
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- Themes: Seemi Aziz
- Descriptors: Books & Resources, WOW Currents