 Thank you so much. As-salamu alaykum everybody. So I'm going to take you all back with me about 15 years and we're going to go back down my memory lane to Elm tree the homeschooling cooperative that Mariam just mentioned and I Was one of the language art teachers at Elm tree and I taught all the way from I started with third grade And I went all the way to eighth grade. I taught all the grades there But one of the jobs I also had at Elm tree was to go into the preschool room every day and Read picture books for half an hour to the three and four year olds And there's this one little girl who has always stood out in my mind for the past 15 years She's in college now. Mashallah And she would be sitting in the preschool circle and when I would read picture books to the group I had her full attention She would be completely focused. She wouldn't fidget She wouldn't make any noise She would be able to ask answer very intelligent and deep questions that were asked of the group She would answer intelligently and she would be able to predict what was going to happen next She was able to discern what the message of the story was And that really blew me away because I knew that this little girl her mother Didn't speak much English. She had only been in the country a few years and she was still learning English Now alhamdulillah. She speaks English just fine. But at that time English was a bit of a challenge for her So I was really fascinated to know why this little girl was so attached to books and had a good grasp of books Whereas the other children in the group whose parents were born and raised here They had a harder time focusing so I asked her father And her father told me Something very interesting. He said that every single day He read three picture books to his daughter He would go to the library He would pick out books that he chose or he would pick out books from his own childhood that he remembered enjoying And he would read her three picture books And we were seeing the results of that in the classroom in that preschool circle And that is something that pretty much every language arts teacher can assess attest to I've been teaching language arts now Masha'Allah for over three decades And in the past 30 plus years Me and all the other language arts teachers we have noticed the same things again and again. We have seen that Students who have high levels of vocabulary Students who are able to write complex sentences Students who have a really good grasp of grammar Students who are able to Figure out the deeper motivations behind what characters are doing in books All of these students what they had in common was that they were avid readers They were prolific readers and they were being read to at home And they were reading constantly themselves so In the late 1990s we saw an uptick here in the united states of america and even around the world But it started like amira mentioned from the us and in the late 1990s the book publishing industry Saw a huge steep What would we call it slope go up? in book sales and The book publishers were doing really well and books were flying off the shelves And stores like borders and barns and noble were very very popular in the late 1990s And social scientists have studied this phenomenon to find out what was happening in the late 1990s to make So many people be attached to books and they Paired it down to three different factors that were happening at that time The first factor that they give credit to is oprah win-free They said that oprah win-free When she started her book club on her show a lot of kids today Even you know young adults wouldn't know who oprah win-free is but at that time She had the most popular daytime talk show and she was very passionate about books They say on average she would read three books over a weekend is what I read about her And so she would just really passionately discuss books that she really enjoyed and those books Overnight would become bestsellers andrew. I don't know how to pronounce his last name. It's either dubus or dubu But and andre dubu who wrote the house of sand and fog. He said that oprah win-free single-handedly Saved him from poverty. He was Very he was struggling. He was a struggling writer. Nobody knew about his book. She read it She recommended on her show and overnight he became a multimillionaire bestselling author The second factor they say is in the late 1990s about what made books really popular is that the world was introduced to a young man named harry potter Harry potter blew all the theories out of the water jk rolling created this character introduced him in 1997 People at that time were saying no child is going to read a 500 plus page long book And harry potter approved him approved all those theorists wrong Children were willing to stand in line for hours to buy 500 plus long page books and The third factor That they saw in the late 1990s is that the internet became very popular and books And articles and magazines were suddenly Accessible at the touch of a fingertip and all of a sudden people had access to books even in the remotest villages and towns So what we see from that is that If people show Enthusiasm for books the way oprah win-free did and they're excited about books It's contagious and if people know that they're not going to be tested and they're not going to be quizzed They're just going to have discussions about books. They're going to be more willing to pick up a book and read it I still have Peers who will tell me like when I mention that I love the book of my sin men by john steinbeck I have a friend who said oh my god. I hate that book And I asked her why and she said oh our teacher made us analyze that book to death And I had to write like three papers about that book I I just remember hating it and that's often what happens a book can be analyzed to death Most people just want to have discussions and enjoy books The other thing we saw is that if you have good characters and good stories People are going to be willing to pick up a book and read it even if it's more than 500 pages long And the third thing we saw from the internet is that if books are accessible People are going to read them if they're easy to get to Now there's a very inexpensive reading kit that I can tell you about that everyone here can have in their own homes So that they can create an environment in which their children are going to want to read So the reading kit you just think of the three b's the three b's the first b is books Every child should own their own books Yes, you should go to the library and yes, it's fine to go to used bookstores But every child should also have a pristine copy of their own book They can write their name in and that they keep for themselves And they should have access to books The second b is bookshelves Or book baskets So in their bedrooms every child should have a book basket next to their bed or a bookshelf in the room In which they can display their books and show them off And the third b is Bed lamp or book lamp and that was one of the little prizes that the the kids got for answering questions Getting a book light. So at night All the kids should be told after they've done their prayers and said their aura then read their Quran and they brush their teeth And they've gotten into bed They should have a little book light or a bed light next to their bed Which can allow them to read their books for like maybe another 10 15 minutes before they have to go to sleep And what happens with that is that these children then get to associate coziness and comfort and the safety of their home with the environment of reading books Now, how do you know if you are successfully raising a lifelong reader? Every single student If that student can answer these three questions you with a with with a response Then you know that you are raising a reader. The first question you ask is what is the last book that you read? The second question you ask is what are you reading right now? And the third question is what do you want to read next? If the children can answer these questions, you know that you have got A lifelong reader inshallah Now, how do we create an environment where children actually want to read? Studies have shown That the primary factor for success for children wanting to read is if they are coming from an environment Where reading is being role modeled So the adults in the home are reading as well Not just the children and that and we're not talking about reading on your laptop or on your phone Every adult should have a book There should be a stack of books on your coffee table in your family room that you're making your way through And your kids kids should see that you power down your phones you turn off the tv And you know you sit around and you read books And it's a contagious Contagious feeling to to want to it's infectious to want to read when you see people around you reading And the second thing that kids need to see is they need to see respect and reverence for books So we should be teaching our children how to handle books that you don't get them dirty You don't throw them around you don't put them on the floor, right? And you don't scribble on them. You don't dog ear the pages Now what are some of the benefits that we see in children who read avidly? So some of the benefits we see with the primary benefit that I see in all my students who are prolific readers Is an incredible grasp of a high level of vocabulary I have a niece who when she was six or seven years old Her little brother who was three years old was doing something naughty and she looked at him and she said He is such a rap scallion And all of us were like rap scallion. Where did she get the word rap scallion from and we found out that her mom at That time was reading huckleberry to her and that's where she learned that word I have another friend whose son she gave him permission to go into a room to get something and he just turned to her and said Oh, I can just go in there at will He's five years old. I can go in there at will And she found out that he was reading a book that was a british book and that's how they spoke so he picked that up I have a student. I was teaching just the other day and we came across the word disparage And I asked him, do you know what disparage and he's an avid reader and I said, do you know what disparage means? And he's like, um, doesn't that mean to disdain things? So he responded with another equally high level word um I had another student who we came across the word dismal in a book and I asked her Do you know what dismal means and she said doesn't that mean dreary? But my one of my favorite stories, however Is this young girl that I taught last year who was in the fifth grade And this girl in hails books in hails them and one of my biggest challenges of teaching her was finding a book that she hadn't read And it it actually got very embarrassing. She was in the fifth grade. She had already read frankenstein She had already read pride and prejudice It got to the point that she was willing to read a book again Just so I could have a chance to read it for the first time her teacher So we were reading johnny termaine And in johnny termaine it described that the soldiers they were walking down the road and they had a gimlet eyed stare And I was like gimlet eyed stare. I'm not sure what that means. Let me hold on. Let me look that up And she's like, oh, I know I was reading a book the other day and in that book They they talked about a gimlet and a gimlet is a drill that bores holes in metal So it must mean that they have a piercing stare That's literally what gimlet eyed meant Okay, so high levels of vocabulary, that's what comes from reading the primary thing that we see It also lowers levels of aggression studies have shown that especially in boys It it calms them down It trains children in high levels of focus We're in an age of distractibility and with a book you are sitting there and you are focused and you are reading It teaches kids about the world around them If a child is sitting there and he hears his dad and his friend talking and they're talking about Some savvy investor in stocks and they say oh that guy he has the Midas touch A kid who has read the book king Midas and the golden touch will understand What it means if somebody who's investing in stocks has the Midas touch It means everything they touch turns to gold, right? They do well So it teaches children about the culture and the world around them So how do we introduce books to children? This is what I like to do and I am going to have mariam Help me out here So I am still teaching Alhamdulillah even now and I also work with preschoolers and I really enjoy introducing books to preschoolers because it's a whole new world That's being introduced to them And I start out with for example, if I had a book like this, this is not a preschool level book But if I had a book like this I would start out by going Is this a hard cover or is it a soft cover? And I would also tell them another word for soft cover is paperback and all the kids would say hard cover And then I would ask them. Do you know what this is? On the on the book this thing that I just took off most of them will say book cover But then I'll tell them another word for book cover is dust jacket And why do you think it's called a dust jacket? Because dust jackets protect the books from dust and also from getting smudges on them Now just like you have a name books have names too every book has its own name And that book is called that name is called a title But guess where else the title is it's not just on the front cover Oh, by the way, I also tell them talk to them about front cover and back cover I tell them about pages show them the pages and what they're called Then I talk to them about how every book has a name and the name is called a title And then I ask them Do you guys know what you have going down your back and then we talk about what a spine is And I tell them, you know a spine helps us stand up straight If your spine is straight you sit down stand up straight But if your spine is curved you're going to curve over and they all kind of practice showing them how they can sit up Straight and how they can curve over Like well guess what every book has a spine also that helps it stand up straight Do we ever want to put books like this on the ground? No, why not? Because the spine can break we don't want to break the spines of our books Then I also talk to them and I introduce these concepts gradually over the course of weeks in preschool Talk to them about who an author is and who an illustrator is an author is the person who writes the stories You see the writing on the pages That's the story the illustrator is the person who draws the pictures You know another fancy word for pictures illustrations Can the same person be the author and the illustrator? Yes So that's basically oh and then also I I chose this book in particular because I wanted to show That many picture books will have this sticker on it If you've got quality books in your classroom They will have this sticker on it and this is the caldecott medal and the caldecott medal is medal given for the best illustrations in a book that year if it's gold They were the number one place winner. If it's silver it means an honorable mention They were close to winning. They didn't win first place But their illustrations are considered beautiful and so children are really fascinated with that and after that They will noticing which books have caldecott medals on them. And if they're silver or gold, thank you And then the last thing I tell every child from preschool all the way up to high school Is that no matter what kind of book you are reading whether it's a picture book whether it's a Detective novel whether it's science fiction whether it's a coming of age story whether it's a memoir Every single book at the end of the day is a mystery And you are the detective And the mystery that you are trying to solve is to figure out What is the message in this book that you are being given? And I tell them every single author who writes a book every single Song singer who writes a song every single movie director a producer who creates a movie Every work of art that's out there. Even if it's a painting The creator of that art has a message that they are wanting to put out in the world And it is your job to figure out what was the message in this book that I read And is it a message I agree with Is it a message I accept? Is it a message that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and the prophets a la alaihi salam are also giving me Is it a message that my parents are teaching me at home and want me to take take in and embody And if not What do we do? And letting the kids know that not all books are worth reading Not all messages are the messages you want to absorb. So you have to be a discerning reader, right? Okay, and Conclude just this part of the talk Um There is an author a man named jim trelease who He came out with a compilation of books and he titled it the read aloud handbook And every four or five years he would publish a new version of the read aloud handbook And from what I have managed to gather from his essays that I have read I think he's a conservative christian though. He doesn't say it But everything he says kind of aligns with the values that we muslims have mashaAllah and So he talks about the value of reading aloud and he does mention that there is a difference between a good read aloud And just a good book not every good book out there makes for a really good read aloud And so read alouds have very specific criteria And what he did was every few years he would release this list of picture books That he thought were worth reading aloud to children and I loved Loved the read aloud handbook every four or five years. I bought it. I bought old copies I have every single copy that's ever been published from the 1970s all the way to the 1990s And he no longer releases those books. I think he's too elderly now. He has a website But anyway a few years ago we were talking about it and I was telling amirah About this man named jim trelease who's kind of done the work for us and has picked out some really Good picture books that we can safely, you know read to our children And amirah at that time said, you know, we need something like that for muslims We need somebody who's reading books from the islamic perspective through the muslim lens and knows whether You know, this book is worth reading to our children or not And she's like somebody needs to create it and I was like, yeah, somebody needs to create it And that is exactly what these young women have done. Mashallah these four young women They've been working on it for the past few years and I'm incredibly proud of them And I'm so excited to be able to be part of their journey in in helping them promote You know mindful reading for muslims and so Before I conclude, I wanted to just go through some really quick tips about do's and don'ts of read aloud Are we okay on time? Okay, so You want to introduce the title the author and illustrator every single time you read a book to your child You want to remember that your attitude towards the book matters if you are bored with the book don't read it Okay, read books that you enjoy reading because your enthusiasm is going to show Especially in the preschool age look for rhythm and rhyme as a parent you are going to get bored of reading books that are Repetitive with rhythm and rhyme my husband used to hate reading the little engine that could That I think I can I think I can but every night we would read I think I can I think I can because our kids loved it And the message in that book was what? That you can persevere right you have to have grit and you you can do it if you think you can do it Inshallah you want to look for simple images Again, this is we're talking about preschool level books simple images not a lot going on simple sentences and words As they get older it's going to get more sophisticated you want to create a routine around reading So for every family it's going to be different for some people It'll be like maybe the father reads to the children while the mom is getting dinner on the table Or maybe the mom reads to the kids when they're in bed right before they fall asleep But there should be some routine to reading Okay, so that the kids can look forward to it And you want to be patient when you see that your kids are fidgeting And know that they're going to come around inshallah they're going to get it In in the beginning it is hard for kids to concentrate, but they get it over time You want to read above children's intellectual levels because what studies have shown Is that they can't read above their intellectual levels, but they can listen above their intellectual levels So they can listen to sophisticated vocabulary and uh more complicated grammar However, you don't want to read above their emotional levels And that's honestly that's a problem I have with some of the islamic picture books that are coming out Because some of the islamic picture books can be really intense like a lot of our books are about like battles and wars and You know, there's a time to introduce that I personally in islamic picture books I love the books that talk about The five senses that how Allah gave me ears with which I can hear and then talking about all the different things You can hear and Allah gave me eyes with which I can see in the early years You just want to teach kids about the wonder of the world and how Allah's panathala is behind it all So you want to avoid long descriptive passages If you're reading a novel you want to end on a suspenseful part and end at a cliffhanger So that the kids are eager to continue reading the next day. You want to make it cozy You can have hot chocolate and blankets. You can read in front of the fireplace again Kids you want them to associate positive feelings with being read to Let them take their time to look at the pages if they don't want you to turn the page because they really want to inspect the illustrations let them Be expressive your tone matters If it's a suspenseful part start whispering if it's an exciting part start speaking louder Do different voices for the different characters and then have a discussion at the end about what was the message of the book Okay, take your time. Don't rush through the book Let them okay if you've got fidgety readers who have a hard time sitting there let their hands be busy Give them paper. Give them crayons. Let them draw They will still be listening and they will occasionally look up to see you know the pictures on your book And that's fine. You'll be surprised how much they're taking in Reading aloud is a wonderful time to bond for fathers and their children It's an excellent excellent way for dads to bond with their kids. My husband. He read The the Iliad he read a version of the Iliad with my boys and taught them Greek mythology and it took a lot It took like a year to get through all those stories Esops fables which teach beautiful messages and morals So it's a great time and then the kids remember it when they're older You want to definitely limit their screen time? After you're done reading a really great book like sarah plain and tall for example in third grade You can watch the movie of it as a family because it's a clean movie and it's done pretty much true to the book But but otherwise avoid, you know cartoons and and and movies and all that stick to books for entertainment And invest in that time Oh, and don't use reading aloud as a bribe or a punishment. Don't tell your kids if you don't finish dinner I'm not going to read to you tonight But a reading book should not be linked to anything else except that it's your routine and you do it with your children, right? And that that's it. Okay, so I hope that was helpful and inshallah. I think you're going to really enjoy the rest of Uh, their presentation inshallah Uh, I have a question What if what if like a kid reads a book like captain underpants like I've read that book and I'm not really like What what that book is really about? What would happen? Well, what would be? What would be your opinion on what what the person should read? Yeah That's actually a really good question. Um The best analogy is is that people like to eat junk food, right and candy And it's not going to affect you just overnight But is it good to have a steady diet of junk food? What what the ladies up here are promoting is like the best of the best quality food It's it's the food that's going to make you healthy. That's going to make you grow tall grow better That's that's what these books provide you. They're going to give you good vocabulary They're gonna you're going to think about it for a long time And the messages in them captain underpants It it just goes in and out It's not going to stay with you forever as far as like wanting to inspire you But there's books out there that when you read them, they're going to change the way you look at the world And inshallah the books on this website many of them And there's more out there that they're still going through and getting sifting through that inshallah are going to sharpen your ability to see the world around you But you're right one book here and there it's not You know, you know, what am I do is is that inshallah and Allah can make anything happen But one of my do is is that we reach a point Where if a book doesn't get Put on the mindful muslim reader website or doesn't get their stamp of approval that publishers and authors will ask Okay, what do we need to do To get you to include it on your list. What do we need to take out? Just just tell us the one thing that's gonna You know, give us your thumbs up and inshallah that can happen It it does happen and their their communities where restaurants will serve halal me because they know that That's the way you get people to come to the restaurant So the same can happen with books as well and one point I'm sorry that I I forgot to say in my talk that I wanted to say right now In case there's people out there who are not doing this Please normalize giving books as gifts to children When babies are born, I don't I personally don't give clothes. I don't give toys clothes get outgrown toys break Books are gifts that keep on giving They they don't break usually Um Children even if they quote-unquote outgrow them if they love the book They're gonna want to hold on to it for their own children They get passed down to younger children to siblings. So books literally they keep on giving they're very valued and You know books are worth a lot. I I still remember one birthday party I went to where people were giving these huge like You know the the child was opening his gifts and the toys were really like huge and lit up and they looked fancy But I personally knew that that toy didn't cost more than like 15 20 dollars And then there was this one lady who came to the birthday party and she's like I'm so embarrassed like people are giving all these big grand gifts And I just have this one book that I'm giving the child And uh the child opened it up and it was this beautiful pop-up version of ellison wonderland I was fascinated and I noted down the name and the publisher because I wanted to get it for myself It was a 40 dollar book, right? But it's it's like books Have value we shouldn't be ashamed of of showing up with one book to a birthday party people will appreciate them