Review 7 - Amira's Picture Day

    Faruqi, Reem and illustrated by Azim, Fahmida. Amira's Picture Day. Holiday House, 2021. K-3.


Everyone say Cheese and get ready for picture day! Amira's Picture Day tells the story of young Amira who has been looking forward to picture day;however,it happens to fall on Eid, an Islamic religious holiday. This means that she won't attend school, and even though she is excited for masjid and prayer, Amira is sad about what she will miss. Explaining, " Amira knew it wouldn't be the same. She loved Eid and the party at the masjid, but she didn't want to be left out of her class pictures. How would her classmates remember her if she wasn't there?" (10). Additionally, this story does an excellent job of providing young readers from pre-k to 3 with an introduction to Eid celebrations. An authors note and glossary further support learning and provide oppurtunities for adults to provide further context. The tone captures the exciment of a holiday and the fear of missing out, providing oppurtunities for dicussion in classrooms.
The colorful digital illustrations reflect Islamic culture well and provide a diverse set of characters. The text and illustrations pair well together. Furthermore, the author and illustration showcase a diverse group of people in the classmates and amogst those at her church, making sure not to typecast charecters. This is an excellent selection for young readers to learn more about internation holidays and belongs in all libraries to diversify the own voices collection.

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