Every Day is Earth Day - Part I | We Love Our Earth
Wednesday, April 22, 2015 –
Earth Day Everyday,
EmmaApple,
How Big is Allah,
Islamic Children's Books,
Islamic Picture Books (Fiction),
Maryam and the Trees,
We Love Our Earth,
We Read,
Zayd's Curious Little Stories
I just realised today is Earth Day.
So I thought why not we celebrate Earth Day this week by sharing some green reads - books with environmental values - from our bookshelf with the children. A way to inculcate good habits in loving our Earth - our temporary living place before returning to Allah. May our final and eternal abode be a place of serenity and happiness;
"And We will admit them to gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. Allah is pleased with them, and they are pleased with Him - those are the party of Allah. Unquestionably, the party of Allah - they are the successful."
~[Qur'an, 58:22]
Allah has entrusted this beautiful Earth to us. I pray one day when we leave this world we're able to stand in front of Allah knowing we - and our children - have done our best to be his truthful servant and take care of our temporary abode, ameen.
“Eat and drink from the provision of Allah, and do not commit abuse on the earth, spreading corruption."
~ [Qur'an, 2:60]
It is Allah who made for you the earth a place of settlement and the sky a ceiling and formed you and perfected your forms and provided you with good things. That is Allah, your Lord; then blessed is Allah , Lord of the worlds."
~[Qur'an, 40:64]
I hope we can follow the sunnah of our beloved Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam, the best man ever walked on this earth. He always cared for the trees, animals and the environment - setting beautiful examples for us to emulate his green deeds. Indeed, he was a true environmentalist.
Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam said,
"If a Muslim plants a tree or sows seeds, and then a bird, or a person or an animal eats from it, it is regarded as a charitable gift (sadaqah) for him." (Bukhari)
The best way to instil the green values to our children is we ourselves need to set good examples to them - we walk the talk. This is very much a big, big reminder to myself!
In addition to it, I do think books are the best way to inspire our little ones to care for Allah's creations.
Just the other day I was reading to Adik, my five year old girl, her favourite bedtime storybook titled 'Little Turtle Messenger'.
I think I was just about to flip to the second page when she started to interrupt me,
"Do not eat turtle eggs. And you know what Mommy? Turtles eat jelly fish and sometime they eat plastic bags because they thought they were jelly fish! They can die eating plastic bags. So we cannot throw plastic bags into the water (sea)."
She blurted them out with quite a firm voice. Masha Allah!
That night somehow was a reminder to me of how books can impart values to our children. Books truly can give strong effect in the mind of - even - a little reader. It is very crucial for us to introduce and share books that have good values to them. And without a doubt, good books enhance their intelligence.
What I also learnt that night was green books taught children to have empathy towards trees and animals.
So now let's begin our Earth Day books sharing and at the same time instil lots, and lots of love for our environment!
Islamic Children's Picture Books
This book is among my first collection of Islamic Children's Picture Books. I bought this at Kinokuniya book store. Kakak, my eldest was still small at the time, but I thought this was rare and I did not want to miss this lovely book. Masha Allah this book has been a gem in our collection since!
We have been reading this from time to time, and once in a while I read it to my children for our bedtime story.
The texts are pretty long (for my five year old girl she likes it still), yet very engaging. A wonderful story to inculcate the love for one of Allah's beautiful creations i.e. the trees. In the story, Maryam and her brother Abdullah discovered why trees are important to us, and they learned it from both their parents and grandparents. Just heart-warming! You will love the family, in shaa Allah. This book is published by The Islamic Foundation.
*Recommended age by publisher : 7-10
How Big is Allah by Emma Apple
Our favourite! I wrote a review about this book here. 'How Big is Allah' helps children to understand Allah's creations, from the smallest up till the biggest creation we could imagine, through beautiful illustrations and simple texts. It's wonderful to finally discover Islamic (non-fiction) storybook such as this that celebrates children's curiosity and imagination. A captivating picture book to introduce little ones to the world we live in today and its relation to the whole big universe - putting things into perspective for the children. What I love most about the book is it helps to open doors for parents to explain the greatness of Allah, the One and Only Creator of everything that exists, and eventually instil the awe and love for our Creator. I highly recommend this book!
*Both my daughters aged 5 and 9 love this book
I love reading this book during our bedtime story to my girls. The ideas in the book are brilliant, and in fact easily applicable both for parents and teachers. One fine day, Zayd's teacher Muallima Fatima suggested to the class to plant vegetables that are mentioned in the Quran in their school. One student suggested to plant other plants too e.g. herbs and fruits. Zayd further suggested that they donate the harvests to the poor. Soon after, their wonderful journey began!
This is a lovely story to introduce children to the plants mentioned in the Quran. And such a wonderful picture book to help parents instil the love and appreciation for trees to their children. What makes this book more meaningful is seeing the children's excitement when they share and give what they have worked for to those in need. I think their beautiful deeds are contagious!
*My 5 year old daughter thinks it's a very good book
If you have been reading classic fables such as Aesop's to your children, this is a book you do not want to miss reading to them. A delightful tale of wisdom that would appeal to the little ones. Hilmy the Hippo is curios to find out why animals are so different from each other, thus begins his journey to seek for an answer. He finally meets the wise, old Terrapin and learns some beautiful lessons. On his way back Hilmy faces some obstacles yet he remains strong, knowing he has Allah to rely upon.
I love reading this book to my girls during our bedtime story. Though I think some of the wisdom in this book is something pretty deep - or perhaps the texts (English is a second language in our house) are a little bit heavy - for my five year old girl to grasp, the thought that their brains are like sponge at this stage of their life to just absorb anything motivates me to read this book to her during bedtime. I somehow believe the wisdom is safely kept inside her brain to be used later, just like how Hilmy applied his new learned wisdom to brave difficult challenges, and understand things around him better.
*Recommended age by publisher : 0-5.
A lovely little book you can share with your little ones especially during bedtime, introducing them to our Creator and His creations. I read this to my girl when she wass still a little baby. A baby as young as 3 months old would be delighted and fascinated looking at the beautiful illustrations - the sun, mountains, stars, clouds, planets and many more. At the same time parents get to introduce them to Allah and how magnificent is Him creating all the thing that exists - creating them from nothing. Allah just have to say it and it will be. Up till now I still read this book to my now five year old girl. Definitely our all-time favourite picture book!
*Enjoyable read from as young as baby up till 7 years old
This is a story about a very sweet girl who gets so inspired by her father to finally grow her own flower plant. Her father is an avid gardener who works at a gardening shop and during weekend he tends to his own garden at home. Faizah loves his garden, and her father teaches her how to be gentle with the flowers. One day she decides to grow a flower plant all by herself. So her father reminds her that growing a flower is a serious thing for she must takes responsibility of taking care of her plant. She promises she will. Then begins a delightful and exciting journey of Faizah. It is not an easy journey for her - growing a flower plant - but along the way she learns a very important lesson - of relying to Allah and the beauty of dua. This book would be a beautiful gift and a lovely inspiration for any little girl - or boy too. A wonderful motivation for them to care for the plants, and especially teaching them to rely on Allah.
*Recommended age by publisher : 5+
Thank you so much Elizabeth Lymer for her Earth Day books article - masha Allah jazakillah sis! Her sharing motivates me to share books from our own shelf too, alhamdulillah.
There are so many books we can share with our children and I hope to share more with you in the next Part II [book from local authors] and Part III [other heart-warming titles] of this article.
In the mean time here below are other titles of Islamic children's books - not at our disposal yet but we hope to get them one day in shaa Allah - that I think would be a good read to encourage our children to care and love for our Earth.
See you again on Part II of this article, in shaa Allah
