Discovering Islamic Art: A Young Reader's Guide with Activities
Julie Weiss
Mary Beardwood
2015, Medina Publishing, 978-1-90933-904-0, £10 pb.
This thin volume presents young readers with both the basic elements of Islamic art and the historical and cultural contexts in which they developed. Created by a former teacher, it is both educational and fun. The text is interspersed with an abundance of images, including photographs of artifacts and sketches that reveal the building blocks of Islamic art: geometric patterns, arabesques and calligraphy. The book invites young readers to take an active role in learning through a variety of hands-on activities. In addition to graphic organizers that help readers consolidate their learning, it is filled with word hunts, decoding activities and even spaces for students to draw their own pictures using the motifs they are reading about. Readers who engage as actively as this book invites them to do will learn a great deal.
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