Introducing Arabic Books for Kids, Proudly!.

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 then I wasn't a good reader, I mean reading wasn't a passion. It got better in high school though, until it became a hobby during my years at the university.

I'm not here to talk about my experience, I'm here to talk about my Mariyah's.
 Living in the states makes the whole idea of introducing her to books so easy and full of fun. When it comes to advices and encouragement I read 7aki fadi's blog and follow @Ala` Awaysheh. They are both mothers who are obsessed with reading and have smart kids who share the same passion for books. I'm lucky their kids are older than mine so I can ask them whatever question I have and they're always happy to answer.

We read at home and play/read at the bookstore, we attend Story Telling there too! 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.
 I told you we're lucky ;)

Reading to her -and to baby Selma now- 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 kind of fun.

Her "time out" these days is saying: "I'm reading you one book or two tonight at bedtime instead of three".

Then at some point Teaching her the Arabic alphabets 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!

Through Twitter I was guided to @Kalimat Publishing and looking through their website's pages made me fall in love with their books and made me wonder why we weren't this lucky when we were kids.

I mean Look...

I got her this book because her favourite color is Blue. Because she is obsessed with dresses and glittery shoes and because she still remembers how great Eid was here.

I got her this book because tomorrow she'll go to her first Ballet class at the community center and because I'm scared she won't enjoy it although she doesn't stop talking about how excited she is about it...We'll see how that goes :)

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 :)

You see, these books worth a lot. She enjoys reading her book over and over and OVER again! She only knows about the 1st book so far. I'm giving her the second one as a gift tomorrow after her Ballet class.
They also worth a lot because the shipment from Lebanon was really 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. All four of them in fact.

I'm just glad I got them and I'm glad my little girl loves her book about the blue shoes. She asked us about دولاب الهواء، السكاكر و الأراجيح so we simply took her to San Mateo County Fair where she experienced the whole thing "Dima" from the book had. Now she can't wait for Eid!

Neither can I. Because I promised her a beautiful pair of blue shoes for next Eid...