Night of the Moon
Presented by Andrea Kruse EDEL 411 Section B
Information About the Book
Title: Night of the Moon
Author: Hena KhanIllustrator: Julie Paschkis
Genre: Juvenile Fiction
Topic/Theme: This books shows children what takes place during the Ramadan.
Awards:
- 2009 Booklist Top 10 Religion Book for Youth
- Parents Choice Approved Book
About the Author
About the Illustrator
Detailing Her Illustrations
Julie Paschkis shares that when illustrating her books, she tends to use more detail when illustrating for older audiences.
Illustration From the Book
Julie Paschkis used gouache and permanent masking medium on paper to create the illustrations seen in this book. I think that she did a great job using color to catch the readers' attention when creating the cultural details displayed throughout the book.
Julie Paschkis
Illustrator
Criteria for High Quality Multicultural Literature
2. The book demonstrates unique language. Throughout the book, there are many Muslim terms that are used. Words such as Ramadan, mosque, eid, and a couple others are bolded in the text. Some words you are able to use context clues to define, both there is a glossary in the back of the book with pronunciations and definitions for the words people not of the Muslim culture would know.
3. The Theme is consistent with the values, beliefs, customs, traditions, and conflicts of the specific cultural group. Throughout the book the narrator, Yasmeen, explains all different traditions throughout the month of Ramadan. She explains that the Islamic calendar is based on the moon, and describes how the moon goes from its phases of being a small, almost invisible crescent moon, to a full moon, and back down to a small crescent moon until it disappears. She explains that Ramadan is full of delicious foods, new clothes, parties, and presents. It is later explained by her teacher that adults fast from sunrise to sunset, and multiple parties are illustrated throughout the book as well.
Night of the Moon Lesson Idea
CCSS RL.2.7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
The students will explain what they believe is going on in a picture given to them from a text just based on the information they can take from the illustration.
Lesson Procedure
- The lesson will begin with the teacher showing students a paragraph from a book with an unknown word (for example, the word Eid in Night of the Moon) in it. She will ask the students, "based on this paragraph alone, can you figure out what Eid is?" After the students try and guess, the teacher will show an illustration without any text below it. The teacher will ask the students, "what do you think is going on in this picture?" The students will use context clues from the illustration to decide what they think is going on. The teacher will then explain to the students that difficult or unfamiliar words in a text can be understood by looking at the pictures on the page.
- The teacher will share with the students that as this book is being read, there will be many Islamic words that they may not understand. In order to figure out what the text is talking about, the students will have to listen for key words or look at the illustrations in order to understand.
- As the teacher reads Night of the Moon to the students the first time, she will have the students listen for words that are unfamiliar to them. She will have one student write the words on the board as they are heard. Once the teacher finishes reading the book the first time, she will then read the book a second time. Once they come to a word they wrote on the board, the teacher will pause and the students will discuss as a class the key words or pictures that help them figure out the meaning of the word and what they think the word means.
- After the book is finished being read the second time through, the teacher will hand each student a page she printed off from a text.. The student will write a paragraph or two on what they think is going on in the picture just based off of the illustrations. Students will then share their illustration and paragraphs with the class.
References
Khan, H. (2011). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.henakhan.com/
Khan, H. (2011). [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://www.henakhan.com/night-of-the-moon/
[Web log message]. (2012, February 08). Retrieved from http://blaine.org/sevenimpossiblethings/?p=1279