Recommendation: "The Blessed Bananas" by Tayyaba Syed and Illustrated by Melani Putri

I realized how much I liked The Blessed Bananas, written by Tayyaba Syed and illustrated by Melani Putri, when I started to describe the story to an elderly relative in Arabic. When I finished my version, I realize it differed in some ways from Tayyaba's text, yet it still worked, both as an entertaining narrative and a lesson in good behavior and morals.

I had recently read Watership Down by Richard Adams. Apart from the dramatic action, the interspersed stories the rabbits told about their ancestor ElAhrairah were entertaining. I had similarly tried to convey them to my relative.

So I feel like a raconteur!

قولوا علي قصاص

So you can use the wonderful illustrations in this book to tell your toddler Tayyaba's version of the story and then your version(s) of the story. Then, when the child grows older, you can repeat the process, and you and the child will be hearing a whole new set of stories.