Learning to Deal with Loss: Sulaiman and the Tides of Change
by Aliya Vaughan, illustrations by Rakaiya Azzouz
Kube Publishing Ltd
Sulaiman faces a devastating loss whilst on holiday with his family.
Learning to deal with loss is a story about a young Muslim boy on holiday with his family when he learns that his grandfather has passed away. Although it is a shock to them all, Sulaiman is particularly upset.
It raises many questions in his mind and evokes turbulent emotions that he has not experienced before. Through it, he learns the Islamic concept of death; how to deal with losses and changes in life and how it is all linked to a greater purpose.
Sulaiman and the Tides of Change is the third book in a series of stories about the adventures of a young Muslim boy. Sulaiman and his family love visiting his grandparents, who live by the coast. They spend the holidays together – exploring the coastline, playing on the beach, eating Grandma’s homecooked food and enjoying Grandpa’s bedtime stories.
Cover image and summary via Edelweiss
Gr 3-7–Ahmed Aziz recalls the year when he was 12 and forced to move from Hawaii, the only home he’d ever known, to his father’s hometown in Minnesota so that his father could receive lifesaving medical treatment for a genetic illness. Frustrated by his parents’ choice to move to Minnesota and his lack of control over his life, Ahmed reluctantly embraces his new community and faces the looming legacy of his late uncle’s life and death. When a neighborhood bully targets him, Ahmed must decide who it is he wants to be; it is an epic year indeed! In this moving and well-paced novel, Hamza sensitively offers a multidimensional portrayal of characters, young and old, and skillfully weaves in a narrative of the power of good teaching and literature. Young readers resistant to reading may relate to Ahmed’s initial feelings about books, while fans of the works discussed within (including Louis Sachar’s Holes and Katherine Paterson’s Bridge to Terabithia) will be delighted. References to the family’s Indian heritage and Muslim religion are seamlessly interspersed throughout, offering a warm and authentic depiction of an American Muslim family.