I enjoyed reading this book. I think it does a good job of informing readers about a religion that they may not be familiar with. ( )

I absolutely loved this book. I enjoy the content but enjoyed the fact that it was written in both english and arabic! I thought incorporating another language in the book allowed he book to reach more people and help people who are either trying to learn english or arabic, learn it easier. I enjoy how it shows another angle of how children of arabic culture learn their roots and they way and reasons they do things. I loved how the young girl learned so much about her culture by traveling to see her grandmother, experiencing the culture of the unnamed middle eastern country and the family love that surrounded her. This book focused on the appreciation that the young girl had for the mosque and prayer, because all though she was not old enough to participate she enjoyed learning about it so much. ( )

A young girl visits her grandmother in a Muslim country. As she is there, her grandma teaches her how to pray the Islamic way. This book represents Islam in a positive way. It exposes children to a religion that they may not know of. It was very interesting to see both the English passages and Arabic passages throughout the book. This book can be added to a classroom library to enhance the library's diversity. ( )

This narratvie is so moving to me. It also taught me a lot about Islam in a succinct and engaging manner in such a short little picture book. I learned quite a bit and it intrigued me to learn more, such as more about the Call to Prayer clocks. ( )

Time to Pray by Madha Addasi is a good realistic fiction book that presents readers with a story as well as information about Muslim prayers. I liked that the book was bilingual – the words were in both English and Arabic, so that people who speak Arabic can follow along and so that English speakers can see what another language looks like. Some Arabic words are mixed in with the English text, such as when the word “habibti” was defined by Yasmin, the speaker of the book. She said, “I like it when Teta calls me habibti, my love.” The changes in setting were interesting and kept me engaged as I read. Yasmin takes the reader from her grandmother’s house to the fabric shop, then to the mosque. I like the illustrations in the book, as they are realistic-looking, done with warm colors, and varying designs. I also liked how the language was descriptive and allowed me to utilize multiple senses while reading. One description was of a food, “At lunch, we had Teta’s best upside-down rice…the rice was a perfect cake…it tasted delicious with plain yogurt.” The overall purpose of this story was to present information about Muslim prayers through a good story a listing of the 5 Fard Muslim Prayers. I like that overall purpose because learning about other cultures and religions is interesting and the book was well written and illustrated. ( )