Advanced Children's Literature: Traditional Tales

Conover, Sarah and Freda Crane. AYAT JAMILAH: BEAUTIFUL SIGNS, A TREASURY OF ISLAMIC WISDOM FOR CHILDREN AND PARENTS. Spokane, Washington: Eastern Washington University Press, 2004.

Conover and Crane make a very effective team. Both are degreed educators and collectors of stories of Islam for Young Adults. Conover presents the secular side of these tales and Dr. Crane, a Muslim, focuses more on the religious side of the coin. Kan ya ma kan: there was and there was not. Other beginnings that are similar to our "Once upon a time" include once there was and twice there was not. There are stories from traditional Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Syria but also tales from Indonesia, China, Azerbaijan, West Africa and others. There are stories from the Qur'an, folk tales, animal stories, stories of Abraham (Ibrahim), Jesus (Isa), and Mary (Mariam.) There are tales of wise and foolish men and women. The book will go a long way towards highlighting how much peoples of the world have in common rather than their different. Conover stresses that part of her purpose in the book is to reach young people and teach tolerance because we live in such a time where many believe and act in fundamentally intolerant ways. Famous quotations are framed in what looks like an outline of a quilt, and sometimes appear to be written on a tapestry or quilt making the book just as visually unique as is the content. A very effective contribution to the dearth of Muslim tale collections published in the West.