Introduction: what is this section and how did it come about?
It is not easy to find books that are suitable as reading material for young Muslims. Most books for children of all ages involve magic, references to Christmas and birthdays (or indeed the whole story revolves around them!), or (even from the age of 9 or 10 and upwards) they are morally questionable for one reason or another. That being said, young readers, once they are able to being reading by themselves, albeit hesitantly at first, do need some reading material to practice their reading skills and thus gain confidence. With some hard searching at your local library it possible to turn up some little gems of books - ones that are suitable (or at least have nothing unsuitable in them!) and can be read safely enough.
Being able to not simply 'read the words' of a text, but to follow the plot, analyse, study it, consider the language used within it, let alone get into the habit of stopping and checking the meaning of unfamiliar words are all useful, if not essential, reading skills. This is part and parcel of understanding a text, and while it can be done with short fiction with a young child, the skills they will learn will benefit them with non-fiction and academic texts even into adult life.
As such, what you will find in this section of the site are some chapter by chapter comprehension and vocabulary studies for a few books that are, insha'Allah, okay for the young reader - from the age of 5 (if they are an 'early reader') even up to the age of 10 or 11. If you felt an older child needed some practice in the skills of assessing a text, then these could also be suitable for them, perhaps, though they might find the reading material itself a little young by that age.
It should be noted that, of course, focusing on fiction is not the ideal - the main focus of any reading should ultimately be to do with the deen and, better yet, the main focus should be on learning Arabic so they can begin the basics of seerah, hadeeth and so on - however, if the child might at some point join mainstream English-speaking education, the skills they will learn by doing these studies will be of use and keep them on a par with their peers, insha'Allah.
These studies would also be suitable for use within a classroom or small tutorial setting.
For each book you will find, for each chapter:
a list of words used in the chapter that may be unfamiliar. The child should check that they understand the meaning of each one within the context they are used in the text (it is often best to wait until they reach that particular word in the text, if you are reading along with them in the lesson, and then help them to look it up if need be) since words can change meaning depending on the context
a list of comprehension and discussion questions that should be answered while the child is reading the chapter and as they reach the points in it relevant to each question (either written or discussed with the teacher, depending on the age/ability of the child and the chosen teaching method)
a question or two to consider after the chapter has been read, and perhaps a request (if of an appropriate age and ability) to write a brief summary of the plot so far.
There might also be suggestions of animals, plants or countries to look up in books or online so as to familiarise themselves with the subjects being described and talked about in the text
As has been requested by some you will now also find 'teacher/parent notes' for each book with suggestions as to how to perhaps present/direct the lessons, but also going through the questions asked in each comprehension study one by one and providing possible answers and discussions that might arise. In other words: you do not have to teach these study lessons 'blind' (for those who might be nervous about doing so).