IN an age when electronic books are taking the place of regular ones - causing the imminent disappearance of a reading culture amongst the Saudi youth - young female Saudi writers are putting up a fight and offering books that emphasize local cultures and norms. The rationale behind these children's books, according to one such writer: Dali Toonsi, is that such books can be used to widen children's horizons about different cultures, habits and conducts in the world, allowing them to tolerate different perspectives and lifestyles. She also asserts that writing about one's own culture helps in reinforcing a healthy identity and engaging the child within the community, as well as providing the proper introduction to social norms and religious obligations. “My book (‘Diary of a Fasting Girl') celebrates an important period in the lives of Muslim children: When they are expected to perform adult religious obligations (fasting and prayers, for example), without any consideration for their feelings, age, and the need for a smooth transition,” she remarked. “It is written in a language that claims to speak the child's tongue, show up his unspoken feelings and show adults that it is normal to have fears and doubts when you try something new.” The phenomenon of children's books is creatively filling a niche, as many parents, particularly young mothers, are desperate to engage their children in reading habits and try to find suitable material for their children in libraries and book stores. The lack of children's books in Arabic have inspired a new generation of Saudi writers and illustrators to come up with something different and in tune with the age, but with relevance to the country's heritage. According to one such writer, Hadeel Al-Abasee, many educated people have shown an interest in literature based on what they have read in English. That has created a love for books in them that has inspired them to go back to the Arabic language and search for books. “Children's books need to be appealing, but more importantly, reflect our culture and heritage,” she said. “My latest book ‘Sowary Al Maktota' is about chapters from the Holy Quran, and is written in ornamental Islamic calligraphy.” Children typically respond very differently to each story, engaging more actively than parents when encountering social messages, and therefore a variety of techniques can be used to enhance such messages. Nijood Al-Sedairy teaches at the department of Early Childhood Education at King Abdul Aziz University and has just started teaching a new course on researching children. “Each term we train our students to write and illustrate children's books, and through the efforts of the whole team, this has resulted in a book proudly made by our 45 students and published by Kadi and Ramadi,” said Al-Sedairy. According to her, they published 3000 copies of the book in the first edition, which ultimately sold out. At an afternoon (day care) club called Future Expertise in Jeddah, the children are read stories in Arabic that seek to promote good values. “In the club, we make sure that we choose books that contain messages that will reinforce good ideals in the children and teach social skills,” said Ola Banaja, a teacher trainer who works at the club. “As Muslims, we also like to promote Islamic values and the characteristics of honesty, bravery, generosity and sincerity are all important ones that we can teach children through books.” Illustration also plays a major role in the presentation of books in general, and particularly in children's books because of the impact of visual images. A Saudi illustrator, however, complains that a lot of progress still needs to be made in the field. “We lack the right techniques of illustration, and the results are therefore very poor,” remarked Felwa Nazer, an illustrator. “We don't have professional schools to teach illustration and so, everything is based on our own efforts.” Her first work was in “Allah Loves Me” by Hadeel Al-Abasee, and she has already started work on her second project.
