By Maureen Tai, 11 April 2021

Olympic medallist Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali have created a boldly empowering picture book (ages 5+) about a Muslim girl’s unshakeable faith and her loving relationship with her older sister, Asiya, who wears an ocean-blue hijab on the first day of school. As the day progresses, Faizah becomes anxious as several children show their prejudices with hurtful words and actions. The sisters’ strength of character, tempered by their mother’s wisdom, prevails gloriously in the end. The gorgeous, lyrical text in The Proudest Blue, accompanied by Hatem Aly’s sweeping, vibrant spreads will inspire pride in everything that makes us unique, including our faiths.

NOTE: Thank you for reading my reviews! I’ll never take this website down, but in the interests of streamlining, from 1 January 2025, I’ll be posting new reviews on my writer website, www.maureentai.com, where I post lots of other bookish extras. See you there!