Book Review – Watermelon Madness

Title: Watermelon Madness (البطّيخة)

Author: Taghreed Najjar

Illustrator: Maya Fidawi

Publisher: Al Salwa

Arabic: Clear Legible Font with Vowel Marks

I’m in love with this book! It’s one of my favourite Arabic stories. My youngest has started memorizing some parts of this book because we love to read it often.

Watermelon Madness (البطّيخة) is about a little girl named Noura who loves watermelon. She eats the fruit morning, noon and night! Her parents make attempts for her to eat other foods but she’s not interested. One night, she places the biggest watermelon she has ever seen under her bed to eat it all by herself after everyone drifts off to sleep. And this, is when the real adventure begins.

The concept of this book is excellent and one a lot of children (and parents!) can relate to. I love the inclusion of ethnic foods such as mulukhiyyah (ملوخية) and za’atar (زعتر). The illustrations are lovely and the Arabic typography goes very well with the story. 

You can buy a copy of Watermelon Madness (البطّيخة) from Yesmeen and save 10% off your entire Arabic purchase with my code: ArabicwithNichole10.