MY NAME WAS HUSSEIN 

My Name Was Hussein

Written by: Hristo Kyuchukov

Illustrated by: Allan Eitzen

Boyds Mills Press, 2004

28 pages

Multicultural

            This book was recommended to me by the Anniston librarian. The book is about a young Muslim boy named Hussein who loves to celebrate the holiday Ramadan. The book goes into details of the holiday and its traditions. Hussein lives in southeastern Europe after the Second Word War. During this time the communists took over and required that all Muslims change their names to Christian names. Therefore, as Hussein is celebrating his holiday that year he encounters soldiers with guns and tanks. The men force Hussein’s family to change their names, but Hussein is proud of his name for it means handsome. Form that day on Hussein is to be known as Henry and the story shares the emotions that this creates.

            The illustrations for this story were done using pens and watercolors and the text is placed formally. In order to capture the time and the emotion the coloring is done primarily in dull colors. I personally feel that the author and the illustrator worked well together in creating the imagine of the holiday traditions, the emotion, and the history. The story was actually based off of facts and the life of the author who used to be named Hussein.

            The book has not won any awards, but it is a wonderful story to use in the classroom for young readers. If used in the classroom one could use this story to talk about the Muslim religion, the history in Europe, or Ramadan. I would also use this story in talking about the author and his experiences during the time period in which this story took place. For older students, I would have them research this time period to attain further information about what went on in southeastern Europe.