StoneFaruq

A Squash and a Squeeze

by Axel Sheffler and Julia Donaldson

The main reason my wife started writing children’s books, was because there was so little choice in books available for Muslim children, and unfortunately, what was available was always of poor quality next to non-Muslim offerings.

This is not to say though that we would not recommend any of these books to people. The vast majority of books our children have are made by non-Muslims (and no doubt, is the case of most other Muslims living in the West too), and many of them are the kind of fantastic books that we are inspired to try to make for our kids.

For example, any books written by Julia Donaldson, and illustrated by Axel Sheffler (the pair most famous for ‘The Gruffalo‘), are all classics. There are several books by these two, but the one I’m looking at here is ‘A Squash and a Squeeze‘.

Axel Sheffler’s cartoonish, but very detailed, illustration style is a marvel for kids to look at, after reading again and again, don’t be surprised to find them (and yourself) spotting different things in the pictures, that you didn’t notice before.

Like all Julia Donaldson’s books, the rhyme is without compare in children’s literature, she is far and away the best, stringing words together like no other children’s author today. Furthermore, this tale has a moral at the end of it, which doesn’t always happen with children’s book any more.
The old woman in the story who constantly complains of her house being too small, is taught the value of appreciating what you have, in an rather unconventional manner, by a passing ‘wise old man’.

In short, we haven’t seen any books by Sheffler and Donaldson, that we didn’t like, they’re among the best out there for children at the moment.