 Salamu alaykum everyone and Ramadan Kareem or Ramadan Mubarak. I'm so excited to be here with you. This is my first time sharing my book with a Ramadan audience and what I love about Ramadan, there's so many things that I love but connecting with other people is one of my favorite things about Ramadan and what I really love is creating a sense of community and I wanted to say thank you to shoulder to shoulder for helping bring this community together so big hugs to everyone for being here. It makes me so happy. So Ramadan is a time when as many of you might know people will not drink or not eat during the day and then at sunset they get together and then they they break a meal they break their fast and they share a meal and for me one of the things that I learn about that learn from that is a sense of patience because it's not always easy waiting all day until the sun sets to drink that cup of water or have that piece of chocolate that I've been craving all day so patience is one of those big things that I get out of Ramadan. But also what I love is how when you break your fast at the end of the day you get to do it with all kinds of people. So when I used to live in Egypt one of the things that I would see on the street is they would have these big tents just out on the street and everybody was welcome into the tent you didn't just share your food or your drinks with friends and neighbors you shared it with strangers so all kinds of people from every walk of life would come in and they get into this tent together and share dates and share special drinks and it reminds me of what joy we can feel in our hearts when when we share with other people and when we create a space that's welcoming to everybody and sometimes you know I do get a little anxious or worried and I think oh my gosh are there enough samosas is there enough cake is there enough ruavza which is one of my favorite Ramadan drinks but Ramadan also reminds me that there's always enough for everyone and that there's this idea of baraka which is which is blessings that that come all throughout the year but we're especially reminded during Ramadan that there's always enough for everybody and we feel that feeling of enoughness when we share it as well. So with with those ideas of this idea of patience and sharing and community and welcoming everyone to the table I thought I would share a book that I recently wrote that's also about sharing and community and patience and it's not welcoming everyone to the table but it's welcoming everyone into a bus and it's a very special bus it's called a Dala Dala and this book was inspired by a trip that I took to Zanzibar which is a Muslim island in the country of Tanzania and you'll see how with the characters in the book they get a little bit nervous because they don't think there's enough room for everyone but you'll see how they wiggle and giggle and make enough room so if you hear the words wiggle please feel free to wiggle along um and you'll get to be a part of the book all right so are we ready to listen a little bit okay so one thing that I like to do before I read a story is sometimes I I have the wiggles inside of me so I like to get it out first so if you want to get the wiggles out we'll we'll do it together so wiggle your hands and your shoulders and your head and then your whole body get all your wiggles out awesome and I think we are ready to do some reading I will share my screen and here we go can you all see can you give me a thumbs up if you can see all right so room for everyone written by Naz Khan that's me and illustrations by Mercedes Lopez and as you can see a brother and sister are getting on the Dala Dala the Dala Dala rumbled and roared and Musa and Dada were off to the shore to feast on fish at the Friday Bazaar by the blue crystal waters of Zanzibar soon after zooming past Zulekhastri they saw one old man and his bike with no seat so the driver honked pulled to the side and asked your brother do you need a ride it's hotter than peppers out there in the sun come in there's room for everyone but Dada said Musa I don't think there is enough room for that man and that cycle of his don't worry Musa there's space galore if you move just a bit we can make room for more so in came the man with his sweaty old feet and his bike with no bell and no light and no seat and after some wiggles and giggles and fun they made enough room for everyone next they passed the bugle of boats and a herder appeared with two little goats so the Dala Dala pulled to the side and the driver yelled do you need a ride it's hotter than peppers out there in the sun come in there's room for everyone but Dada asked Musa can there really be enough room for a cycle two goats and me of course there is if we squeeze a bit we can make enough room for us all to fit and though the seating arrangement was tight Musa could see that Dada was right after a shuffle a squirm and a squeeze they found a small space beside Dada's needs and though the Dala Dala was packed from top to bottom and front to back Musa yelled out come join the fun we'll make enough room for everyone so the swimmer with snorkels and tubes and fins wiggled and giggled and wriggled right in look at all those people and all their things the tires were reeling and spinning and burning the passenger sweating and twisting and turning elbow to shoulder beak to nose feathers to feet utters to toes what a sight to see what a comical crew stuck together like globity glue they clunkety clunked like junk in a trunk so close to a breakdown curb plunkety plunk when suddenly all of them heard a screech Alhamdulillah they arrived at the beach out came 10 swimmers with snorkels and fins who ran to the ocean and dove right on in out came nine coconuts fresh and tender and out came the whistling coconut fender out came the eight sticky sweet sugar canes with seven umbrellas for sunshine and rain six stinky chickens and five piles of fish four heavy pales full of milk so delish three big old baskets of fruit for a treat two little goats and one bike with no seat at last at last they had finally reached the blue crystal waters of Nungui Beach where Musa and Dada and everyone could wiggle and giggle under the sun