4 Book Series for Boys & Girls

Assalamu Alaykum!

It is Zainab here, and today I will be recommending book series for boys and girls. These are some books that me and my siblings read and really enjoyed.

The Secret Seven

by Enid Blyton

The Secret Seven is a series of fifteen books about seven kids that have a club, and they are known as the Secret Seven. In almost each book there is a mystery or a problem and the Secret Seven must solve it. This is a series that got Hanifah reading as she found it fun and exciting.

The books are also short so they are fast paced and don't take long to get to the mystery. This is a good series to start off with if you want to get a young child into reading.

Goosebumps

by R.L.Stine

This series got me reading. There are over a hundred of these books, all are creepy stories that at times did give me goosebumps! They are about kids that meet monsters, or have strange, deadly teachers, or are a part of an experiment and don't even know it! The majority of the books can be read as stand-alones, but some stories are about the same monsters coming back for revenge. I started reading these when I was ten, but they never terrified me, they were always just so exciting and thrilling to read.

The covers for me were definitely scarier than the stories, and the stories could sometimes have a bit of humour. 

There is also a series of Goosebumps: Horrorland books...

...as well as Goosebumps: Hall of Horrors...

...and Goosebumps: Most Wanted.

Astrosaurs

by Steve Cole 

Astrosaurs is about dinosaurs that went up into space before an asteroid struck Earth. These dinosaurs now live in space, the meat-eaters to one side and the grass-eaters on the other side. Sometimes fights occur between the two, or a group of spaceships go missing, or robots try to take over, and that is why special dinosaurs known as Astrosaurs come to the rescue.

 The books are always entertaining, and I got to learn lots of different types of dinosaurs that are introduced in each book. The books are short and simple to read. This is also a series that kept me reading, as there are so many to collect. The Astrosaurs are always on a new adventure, or solving a new crime, and because it is about dinosaurs living in space, the books are rather different and unique.


Astrosaurs Academy
by Steve Cole

 Astrosaurs Academy is about one of the Astrosaurs as a child, and how he trains to become an Astrosaur at the academy. We are introduced to new main characters, whom I also liked, and together they get into lots of trouble, and their adventures are just as fun, maybe more so because they are kids!

Lots of it has to do with their training and how they stumble across trouble; they are too young to go on any actual missions, but when faced with a dangerous robot T-Rex or evil school teachers they still save the day.


Well, those are all the books I can think of. Hopefully they will encourage more children to read, and I hope you have enjoyed my recommendations.


Wassalam,
Zainab



DIY Balloon Card Décor

Assalamu Aaikum everyone!

Today we have a simple but very fun craft for you to do, so let's begin!


You will need:

Black Card

Silver pen

White pen

Paint

Cotton Swabs

Step 1: Fold your black card in half (of course your card doesn't have to be black, but we chose it because it makes the colours stand out a lot more).

Step 2: Decide what colours you would like to use for the balloons on your card. We chose six different colours and so needed three cotton swabs, one end to dip in each colour.

Step 3: Practice stamping out the rough shape of balloons on another piece of paper. Remember it doesn't have to be perfect, as long as you have the basic upside-down-raindrop shape.

Step 4: Now is the most fun part, dotting all the different coloured balloons all over the front of the card. You can put as many as you like!

Step 5: Let it dry for a few minutes and then go in with the silver pen and draw the strings of the balloons.

Start connecting the ones that have strayed from the group and then join them all at the bottom of the card.

Step 6: Now you can put what you like at the bottom. We decided on a small boy holding onto the balloons as they floated through the air.

You could do the same, or you could draw a large bow or even a flower pot! The choice is yours.

Step 7: Lastly, use the white pen to add highlights on the balloons.

And you're done!

We hope you liked this fun way to decorate cards and if you should give it a go please let us know. Until next time, insha'Allah.

Love and wassalam,



Childhood Memories: Our Cats (part 1)

Assalamu Alaikum everyone!

We haven't done a Childhood Memories post in a while so we thought we would do one today. This post is going to be about the cats we have had in our lives so far. Just to clarify, we have only ever 'owned' one cat - our currant one, Cata. However, we have adopted and cared for several stray cats that we have always considered our own. Now let's get started!

Lily

(2007... we think)

The first cat we ever had was a stray we named Lily. This was such a long time ago and we don't have any photos of her, unfortunately. She was white mostly, with dark patches. We eventually had to shoo her away because we kept chickens and suspected that she was stealing their babies. She was a good hunter and was healthy and clean - not skinny and weak like most strays. We knew she would be able to take care of herself and that she was not dependent on us.

Katniss
(2011 - 2013)

Katniss was Lily's kitten. Although Lily had been banned from entering our garden(on account of the chick-napping!), one evening she brought her kittens to our home - as if she was telling them that they could trust us. We know it sounds crazy but that's really how it felt! One kitten looked exactly like Lily and she was the only one who returned. We named her Katniss, and as she didn't bother the chickens, we allowed her to stay.

She resembled her mother but was skinnier and not as good-looking. She was an excellent fighter and was always getting into fights - and winning them! But as a result, she was not always a very 'pretty' cat. She had many scars and was very tatty, but that didn't matter because we loved her. It's hard to explain just how brilliant she was. We have not come across a cat like her - and we've known a lot of cats, masha'Allah!

She was so gentle and good-natured; she never scratched us, not once. She would lie in the way when we were zooming around on our bikes and wouldn't even flinch. She wouldn't even move when our dad drove his car right up to her and honked the horn. She knew we would never run over her! She trusted and loved us, alhamdulillah. If we were to choose our all time favourite cat, it would be Katniss.

Kitty

(2013)

Kitty was Katniss's daughter. Her mother brought her to live in our garden during our last year in UAE. Before then, Katniss use to only visit our garden and didn't actually live with us full-time.

Street life was dangerous, however, and Katniss was pregnant and so she brought Kitty to us. She could then go out hunting knowing her baby was safe.

Kitty was quite a shy little kitten and didn't like being around us without her mother. She was playful though, and loved bouncy rubber balls and play fighting with her mum.

You may be wondering what happened to them? Well, sadly we left them and moved to Qatar. It was the hardest thing we had to do when we moved, even harder than leaving the home we had lived in all our lives.

Cata

(December 2013 - present day)

You probably already know Cata as she has appeared in some of our previous posts. She is a Persian Angora and the only cat we have ever really 'owned'. She was abandoned by her previous owners and we adopted her as she was in need of a home. She lives in our garden but is allowed indoors too. She use to be a very bad-tempered, feisty cat but she is much nicer now, alhamdulillah. Masha'Allah, she hardly ever scratches and is clearly happier and more loving. However, she is still not a cuddly cat yet. Maybe someday, insha'Allah! Click here to see our more in-depth post on Cata.

Edelweiss

(2014 - present day)

Meet our other cat, Edelweiss(a-dill-vice), whose name means 'noble white' in German. The edelweiss flower represents adventure and notoriety which perfectly suits this strong, naughty, friendly and lovable cat! Unfortunately, he and Cata do not get along, so he sticks to the front of the house and Cata keeps to the back garden. He also isn't allowed indoors. He is a stray and visits every lunchtime for food and love. We believe he must have been abandoned because he looks too handsome to have always been a street cat. Some day we want to do a more in-depth post on him like we did for Cata, insha'Allah.

Mina

(October 2013 - June 2018)

Mina was a cat we met at the tuition centre we use to attend. She had owners and lived nearby, and she would visit regularly.

She was calm and friendly, but was secretly a little trouble-maker, stirring up fights with the other cats at the centre. We stopped attending the centre last year and haven't seen her since then. We have been told, however, that she is still around and doing fine, alhamdulillah, which is nice to know.

Well, that's all we have time for today. Insha'Allah, we will do a second part to this post later on. We hope you enjoyed it and we will see you next Friday.

Wassalam,