Muhiima’s Quest Book Review
Right out of the gate, we as parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, community leaders, etc. have to be ready to help our children combat those negative messages. We have to be ready to reassure and remind our children time and time again why diversity is important and why being unique/different rocks!
While on this quest, Muhiima can’t help but wonder why she can’t be like her classmates and friends and traditional birthday parties. In fact, Muhiima is tired of being different and explaining to everyone why she’s the odd girl out. Why does she have to be unique when she could easily be like everyone else? Little does Muhiima know, this mysterious quest is the beginning to that question getting answered.
Having once been a kid, I can understand where Muhiima is coming from. There were things my mom didn’t allow me to do because our heritage and beliefs. For example, we didn’t celebrate Columbus Day because we are part Native American. Also, I wasn’t allowed to attend sleepovers and had to dress very modest.
Muhiima’s Quest is a great conversation starter for us as parents and role models to talk to our children or children in our lives about why it’s okay to be different and not to follow the crowd. For parents and role models, I think Muhiima’s Quest is a great reminder that sometimes we have to get creative in order to get through to our children. “Because I said so” doesn’t work all the time and honestly shouldn’t be our default go-to. Kids need reassurance and to know the WHY behind things, especially when it comes to accepting their heritage and religious differences.
Also, this book reminded me that I’m not alone and don’t have to be alone in raising my children and helping them to accept the things that make them unique. We all have a village and we should be using those villages. Sometimes we need to include those people in our discussions with our children when we’re tackling heavy subjects like diversity.
Overall, the kids and I really enjoyed Muhiima’s Quest. The story was great and the illustrations were beautiful. I definitely recommend this book to parents, especially parents of color, who are looking to talk with their children about the importance of diversity and accepting the things about our backgrounds and families that make us unique.
Unknown
September 12, 2017 at 2:14 amMy son is ten and he is starting to get upset when other kids point out differences. Silly little things really but he is so sensitive. I will have him read this book.
Unknown
September 12, 2017 at 5:18 amIt sounds like an engaging book for kids on such an important topic. It's so important to celebrate and embrace our differences and unique qualities!
Elena
September 12, 2017 at 5:51 pmI am an aunt and I love giving books as present. This one is great for my nephew and he can also learn an important lesson from this book about differences.
Ty
September 13, 2017 at 12:05 amMy son is 14 and we had this talk around 6 because we live in a predominately white neighborhood and I had to explain to my son about being different than his friends and as he has gotten older, I have had to talk about being different and being a black boy in the social climate that we live in. Not an easy conversation to have.