Islam

Islam Readings for Educators

Armstrong, Karen, A History of Jerusalem: One City, Three Faiths.
____________, Islam: A Short History.
Hourani, Albert, A History of the Arab Peoples: An Updated Edition.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization.
Ruthven, Malise, Islam: A Very Short Introduction.

Islam Readings for the Classroom

Below are two short religious literacy text sets sorted by grades K-3 and 4-5. These can be used in the classroom to engage students in understanding lived religions. Please note that teachers should carefully read and review texts before using them in the classroom to ensure alignment with curricular goals.

Grades K-3

Bullard, Lisa, and Holli Conger. My Religion, Your Religion. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2015. This book provides a multi-perspective story on four major religions: Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism.

Hoffman, Mary, and Karin Littlewood. The Color of Home. New York, NY: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2002. Young Hassan arrives in the United States from Somalia and paints a picture at school of his homeland.

Khan, Hena, and Julie Paschkis. Night of the Moon: A Muslim Holiday Story. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 2018. This book tells the story of Yasmeen and her family and friends celebrating the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Grades 4-5

Ajmera, Maya, Magda Nakassis, and Cynthia Pon. Faith. Watertown, MA: Charlesbridge, 2009. Photographs document how children around the world celebrate their faith traditions.

Bortzer, Etan, and Robbie Marantz. What Is God? Willowdale, ON: Firefly Juvenile, 2002. This text provides a comparative introduction in text and colorful pictures to Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and their sacred texts.

Buller, Laura. A Faith Like Mine: A Celebration of the World’s Religions – Seen through the Eyes of Children. London, England: DK Publication, 2006. A comprehensive informational text provides plenty of pictures that detail the major and even some of the world’s more minor faith traditions.

Glossop, Jennifer, and John Mantha. The Kids Book of World Religions. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, 2013. An informative text details the major faith traditions of the world.

Marsico, Katie. Islam. Ann Arbor, MI: Cherry Lake Publishing, 2017. This text, which is part of the Global Citizens: World Religions series, describes Islam through text and pictures.

Osborne, Mary Pope. One World, Many Religions: The Ways We Worship. New York, NY: Knopf, 1996. A non-fiction story uses photographs to detail seven major faith traditions today.