The Moon Was There: Glimpses of the Bab’s Childhood for Young Children

Alhan Rahimi is the author of Mulla Husayn: The Story of the Declaration of the Bab for Young Children and Ridvan Garden: The Story of the Festival of Ridvan for Young Children and she has also penned and published The Moon Was There: Glimpses of the Bab’s Childhood for Young Children. As a parent of little ones, I am so grateful to Alhan for creating these materials. Here’s what she shared with us about her book about the childhood of the Bab:

Baha’i Blog: What inspired you to write this book?

The bicentenary of the Birth of the Bab was my inspiration.

Baha’i Blog: What inspired you to make the moon your main character?

Not being able to have any illustrations of the Manifestation of God was the main reason for thinking of a some other way to illustrate the story. And why the moon? Well, I think it’s special that the moon, which can be seen from everywhere on this planet, is the same moon that witnessed the Bab’s childhood!

Baha’i Blog: Who is the book’s target audience?

Children under the age of 5. However, anyone can enjoy reading it!

Baha’i Blog: What did your children think when you were putting this together? What do they think about the book?

When I showed them the E-version of the book, my eldest asked me when the paperback would arrive! She paid good attention to the story. My one-year-old loved the illustrations.

Baha’i Blog: How has celebrating the bicentenary of the Birth of the Bab inspired you? 

I was not sure if I would be able to write and publish any book for this occasion on time. But the thought that this is a one-time opportunity and that not every year is a bicentenary, was a big motivation to get the work done – just in time!

Baha’i Blog: What’s something that you learned while writing this book?

To me, the best part of writing a book is the research. Even though it’s a children’s book, I still wanted to go through as many references as possible to decide which information I’d include in this short book. Therefore, I personally learned more about the Bab’s childhood than I knew before.

Baha’i Blog: Could you please tell us a little about the illustrations and the illustrator for this book?

The illustrator of this book is Anahit Aleksanyan from Armenia. We’ve been working together since 2016 and this is the 3rd book that she illustrated for me. She is amazingly talented and always brings my ideas to visualization.

Baha’i Blog: Thank you so much, Alhan. You can purchase ‘The Moon was There: Glimpses of the Bab’s Childhood for Young Children’ here on Amazon. You can also find out more about Alhan’s projects on her Facebook page or by visiting her website www.alhanrahimi.com.

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.