Here’s a rundown of the current books we plan to release in 2010 insha’Allah, from StoneFaruq, and the Seerah Foundation.

Muhammad - Encyclopaedia of Seerah
Currently, almost half of the 8 volumes of the encyclopaedia are out of print, or very low in stock. Insha’Allah, we hope to be able to print the missing volumes this year, so that we will have at least 200 full sets in stock. More news on this once they have gone to print insha’Allah.

StoneFaruq - Books for Children
Our four children’s books are still available, now distributed worldwide by Kube Publishing Ltd., and insha’Allah, we hope to have four more in print this year.

The four titles are: My Mummy’s Fat Tummy, about the arrival of a new baby in the family, from a young girl’s point of view (an early mockup of the cover can be seen above). One, is another ‘collage style’ illustrated book, all about Tawhid. Insha’Allah We’ll Get There, is a rhyming story about journeying to Makkah for Hajj. Lastly, Auntie Eemaan’s Eid Party, which is fairly self explanatory.

More on all of these books, and others, in the near future. Please make du’ah for us insha’Allah, so we achieve that which we set out to do, in Allah’s cause.

Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

All images on this site are copyright
© 2010 StoneFaruq

There are interesting developments going on in digital media all the time, but right now, books and magazines moving into the digital space is a great area of interest.

With the upcoming launch of Apple’s iPad, there finally looks like there will be a viable platform for consuming content like this is a new and accessible way. Below is a video of a Penguin Books presentation, featuring demos of some books they will be launching on Apple’s new device.

Some interesting ideas, but I think still quite limited compared to what could potentially be possible on this platform. So, what would you like to see on the ipad? Interactive children’s books? or, something new and completely different?

Let us know insha’Allah. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

Long time with no Blog update, but lots of things have been happening.

Firstly, our second and third books are now in print, and in the shops insha’Allah. These are:

Time to Pray, our first boardbook, in a new art style for us.

Time to wake up. Time for Fajr. Make your Wudhu and go to the Masjid.
A rhyming story to teach children the benefit of prayer. It’s important to show this vital part in the life of every Muslim, in an accessible way.
We can’t overestimate the value of Prayer.

Buy Time to Pray from the SeerahStore

Allah lets us have fun, a hardback book with similar artwork to last years ‘Time for Isha’a‘.

A rhyming story for young children, that teaches us to appreciate the things we take for granted. Allah has given us so much. We have so much. We have so much to be thankful for. Sometimes it is easy to forget how blessed we are.

Buy Allah lets us have fun at the SeerahStore

Our first two books, Time for Isha’a, and The Jolly Jamaat, are also available to buy online from the SeerahStore, at a new reduced price.

So, the SeerahStore is up and running, just about. The only method of payment taken, at the moment, is via Paypal, and this is only if you have a Paypal account. I am hoping to get more payment methods, and simpler ones, available soon insha’Allah.

And don’t forget you can also buy all our publications, and other Seerah Foundation books, from your nearest Islamic Bookstore. Most Islamic bookshops worldwide get books from Kube Publishing Ltd., who distribute all our books in the UK, and internationally.

Since we started StoneFaruq, in May 2008, Allhamdulillaah,we have put 4 Children’s Books into print. But the road is long, we have more than 40 books (mostly already written) that need to be illustrated. We hope insha’Allah that with your du’ah, and your help, that we can increase our output.

More news to come in the days ahead of our next book…

Jazak’Allah Khair. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

Currently our books (Time for Isha’a and The Jolly Jamaat), are only available in a few Islamic bookshops, mainly in London, with little or no international presence. Also, our online shop, SeerahStore.com, is still offline, and the launch has been delayed. Making our books hard to find for most people. So insha’Allah, this deal with Kube Publishing will enable many more to have access to our books, and many more children will benefit insha’Allah.

Finally, our forthcoming books (Time to Pray and Allah lets us have fun) will be available later this summer insha’Allah, and will also be distributed by Kube Publishing. Look out for our Books for Children. Coming soon, insha’Allah, to an Islamic Bookshop near you.

Jazak’Allah Khair. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

The ever imminent completion of books 3 and 4 is close at hand insha’Allah. Just some last minute preparation now, till they are sent off to the printers. Allhamdulilaah.

Neilsen have the details for both books now, they’re all ISBN’ed up and good-to-go, so expect them to turn up on Amazon and other sites in the next few weeks

The one more likely to be available first, ‘Allah lets us have fun’, was previewed here. Below is the preview of the other book, which will be a ‘board book’ insha’Allah, ‘Time to Pray’. Another rhyming pre-school book, but different to all the others.

Here’s the blurb from the back cover:

Here are some sample pages (click to enlarge):

As you can see, the style is very different from the other books, and it’s our first book with ‘no faces’, which is a big issue for some people. Something I’ve been looking into a great deal.

All this has delayed the launch of our online shop, so apologies for that. The Seerah Store will see the light of day soon insha’Allah.

Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

All images - copyright © 2009 StoneFaruq

Now I have some kind of internet connection at home, I’ve been trawling the web, attempting to spread the word about StoneFaruq and our books insha’Allah.

 
I’ve set up a ‘Lens‘ at squidoo.com

Books-for-Children-from-StoneFaruq

There’s a ‘group’ for us  on facebook…

Books for Children on facebook

Finally, we’re on Muxlim.com too (that’s not a typo btw)

my.muxlim.com/stonefaruq

 
Can anyone make any suggestions as to where else I should go? Forums where they may be interested, or other popular sites that may attract more interest in these books insha’Allah.

Answers on a postcard (or just in the comments section below).

Jazak’Allah khair. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

 

 
Update: For what it’s worth, I made a Twitter page as well…

twitter.com/stonefaruq

Just a quick post, the SeerahStore is still in development, online within a month insha’Allah, to enable people to purchase our, and the Seerah Foundation’s books, at the click of a mouse. In the meantime, both our books are available on eBay right here.

(will update the auction with overseas postage prices soon insha’Allah)

Jazak’Allah Khair. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

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.

We are hard at work preparing the next 2 or 3 books fo release insha’Allah, though even after they go to print, it may take another 2-3 months before they will be on-the-shelves, as it were.

Buying our books should be easier soon insha’Allah, as the Seerah Store, is in development, and may be online by the end of February. Insha’Allah this will allow you to buy books directly from us at the click of a mouse. We will post the news when it goes live.

Here, to show you what’s been happening behind closed doors at StoneFaruq, is a preview of artwork from our forthcoming book ‘Allah lets us have fun’, which will insha’Allah teach children to appreciate the many gifts Allah has give us, that we easily take for granted. Here are the first 2 pages in the book, set in a playground (click to enlarge):

The artwork is in a similar style to ‘Time for Isha’a’, with characters made from torn card and paper, scanned in, and mixed with other collage elements using Adobe Photoshop (version 7). Here are 2 pages from the middle of the story, from a classroom (click to enlarge):

The book size will be a larger format, closer to the size of ‘The Jolly Jamaat’, and insha’Allah the first print will be published in hardback. There will still be minor changes, text rearranged, faces added, but the book is close to ready now, and may go to print in a few weeks insha’Allah. Half the book was finished by Ramadhan 2008, but in the meantime I had to spend about 2-3 months getting all these sites live, and getting other books into shops.

We will post more previews of other books in the weeks to come insha’Allah.

Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah

All images are copyright © 2009 StoneFaruq

We have been recieving a high number of requests to buy sets of the Encyclopedia of Seerah, but unfortunately we do not have any complete sets in stock at the moment.
Out of the 8 Volumes, we currently only have Volume 2, 3, 4, 5 and 7 in stock, with no date as to when the missing books will be printed.

Insha’Allah, any progress on this front will be posted here, and also emailed to those who have made enquiries by E-Mail.

Jazak’Allah Khair. Wassalaamu’alaikum Warahmat’ullah