A gentle telling of a family’s celebration of Girgian, a festival in the middle of Ramadan.

This book was a joy to read. It reminded me of Halloween as a child and I love Halloween. The candy bags, the dressing up, and collecting candy from door to door. I think this book is important for its language and plot. The language included some words from the Middle East and revolved around the popular Middle Eastern holiday of Ramadan. Some of the language used was "musaher","Girgian", and "dishdashes." I loved the plot, because they fast and pray all day until the fasting is over and then they feast and go collect candy. I think that fasting is extremely hard and a huge sacrifice and that is great that they do that. Their candy is also homemade which is so nice! The plot was about family and giving to others and the Grandma makes it a point to remind her granddaughter that. The message of the story was giving to others and sacrificing for something great. ( )

I liked this book because it was very informative about the events of Ramadan. It was very straightforward when describing the occasion such as when it is said “A 'musaher' walks through the neighborhood before dawn beating his drum to wake people up...” after using “musaher” in a sentence. This type of narrative would be helpful in allowing young children to understand and follow along with the text easily. The illustrations were another reason why I liked the book such as the pretty picture of a mother and grandma cooking in the kitchen before Ramadan.I also liked that this story was told in the 3rd person point of view. I think that the big idea of this story was to get readers to learn about the events leading up to Ramadan in a story that doesn’t make it seem like information is being shoved in your face.This is done by having a story about a young girl and her brothers as they prepare for the event, while slipping in vocabulary terms and ideas such as “Musaher” as mentioned before. It is clear that this story is realistic fiction because the events are believable. Children are also able to relate to the characters experience such as when the children in the book were very excited to get candy. ( )

I liked The White Nights of Ramadan because of the bright pictures that gave a lot of meaning to the words as well as the excitement of the main character Noor. The author writes, “Noor and her brothers painted their canvas bags with bright colors,” and the corresponding illustration are the three children gluing beads and tying ribbons on their bags, which are depicted as multi-colored. This allows the reader to connect with the words and visualize the Ramadan tradition and learn more about the culture. Noor is also very excited about participating in Ramadan, demonstrated especially when the author writes, “That night, Noor was too excited to sleep. She kept checking the candy and the fanouses that would light up their path for Girgian.” This gives the reader a sense of excitement and wonder for the traditions of Ramadan, and this, in turn, draws the reader into continuing through the story. The main message of this book is that although Ramadan can be fun, the true meaning of Ramadan is to spend time with family and help those in need. ( )

About a Kuwaiti cultural activity known as girgian, similar to Halloween, where children go from door to door one night in the middle of Ramadan to get candy.