From School Library Journal
Grade 4 Up—This innovative guide has a twofold purpose: to teach the Arabic alphabet and to provide a window into Arabic culture. The study of a language with an unfamiliar alphabet is daunting, and Arabic is particularly so, since the letters join in artistic combinations that are often referred to (even here) as “squiggles.” The methods used in this attractive book to simplify learning the letters include putting the Arabic letters in the order of the English alphabet and matching the two, and teaching the actual writing with step-by-step drawings that fade at the end of a letter so that readers can tell when the following letter begins. Color is used effectively with bold red and black letter [Read More...]
Buy Sugar Comes from Arabic: A Beginner’s Guide to Arabic Letters and Words at Amazon
Internet Item of the Day: A great family gift during Holiday Time is trivial pursuit family edition because the whole family can play.
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This is a really fun book for kids which sets out to teach us to learn to write Arabic and spell our own and our friends’ names. But it does much more. It has an abundance of cool information about Arabic culture, about which many Americans have been curious. I am 14, and I learned a huge amount in just two hours with this book. It’s a great book to take on vacation or curl up with for an amusing read. More people (adults, too!) should read this book as it teaches us to appreciate another culture as well as to learn to write and say many Arabic words!
Rachel Herrup, Cambridge, Massachusetts
First, large print in English subtly conveys, “You can do this!”
Then, clear order, bright illustrations and cheerfully encouraging instructions lead you on.
Soon, almost by surprise, you have absorbed basic tenets of the Arabic alphabet and culture (as well as some roots of our own) and you can read Arabic phonetically.