I was going to cut back on the number of reviews I did this year, but then well, books happened! Books like Zamzam for Everyone: Sharing Water at Hajj by Razeena Omar Gutta and illustrated by Bassent Dawoud (due January 2026, read via an online reader copy). There are several books on the Islamic faith for the younger crowd. However, they are mostly repetitive and hit the “big events” and there is nothing wrong with that, but I needed something different and I found it with Gutta and Dawoud’s book.
Mariam’s pilgrimage to Ka’aba in the city of Makkah is exciting. People from all over the world are there. And she wants to do a special act of charity, as she always has a smile ready so just being herself does not seem enough. She finds a way to share the holy water she collects with her mother with others, while making friends and eating food along the way. You are there with Mariam as what she gives comes back to her. We are engulfed in colorful, fairly busy images that are lighthearted and are bouncy with a bit of somberness for the event.
Overall it is just a fun, nice, interesting reading experience. I might have known about this event, but it is presented in an accessible manner that makes it fresh and gives more than what I previously knew about it. I liked learning about how many different people are Muslm, how many flock to Makkah and what this all entails. While it is a picture book, which might turn off a few older readers, it is one that everyone can relate to or learn from. We might not be of the Muslim faith, but we all have celebrations, all try to do good and charitable works and we all have traditions. In the story itself some of the traditions and acts of Mariam and her family are shown, but afterwards there are several pages that go more in depth on the subject.