Nuri and the London Lights · Limited Edition

£0
Nuri and the London Lights · Limited Edition

Nuri and the London Lights · Limited Edition

£0

A city full of lights. A little swan who wonders which ones are his.

A picture book for Muslim children growing up in Britain, about loving the lights, belonging beside them, and knowing that what is theirs is already whole.

Ages 3–7 · Hardback · Limited Edition 2026

Read Nuri and the London Lights

Nuri lives with Mama on the lake in St James's Park. He knows the squeaky bench, the flapping laces, the pelican still as a stone.

Then London begins to glow.

The tree at Covent Garden. Stars in every window at Selfridges. A whole building shining at Harrods. Nuri listens from the bank and wants a little brightness for their bit of lake. So he gathers some: a red ribbon, a scrap of gold paper, a fallen paper crown.

Then he asks Mama when theirs begins.

What follows is a gentle, honest conversation about why Christmas isn't one of our celebrations. It happens on the lake, on the path with his friend Maryam and her Baba, and in the reeds at bedtime. Nobody is told off for loving the lights. Nothing is taken away from anyone else to make Nuri feel better.

By the last page London is still shining, and Nuri is glad it is. His ribbon is somewhere out there, making somebody smile. And he paddles home knowing exactly what is his.

What is something lovely you like, even though it isn't yours? And what is something lovely that is?

What Mama teaches him

Nuri is never told the lights are wrong, or that he shouldn't look. He is allowed to like them. Maryam likes them too. She also likes a red bicycle that isn't hers, and the moon, which follows them both home.

What Mama gives him is steadier than a yes or a no.

That you can find something beautiful without making it yours.

That feeling left out is something you can tell Allah about, in your own words, because He hears your quietest whisper.

That we belong to Allah, wherever we are. Even on a lake in the middle of London in December.

Then Nuri remembers what is his. Baba's voice reading Qur'an, warm in the room. The first sweet date at sunset. Squeaky Eid shoes. Mama's wing around him on cold mornings, and their soft Alhamdulillah drifting over the lake.

None of it was far away. He was already inside it.

Nothing had to be borrowed, or dressed up to look like something else. What Nuri has is different, and it was complete all along.

For the December questions, before they're asked.

Every year the lights go up, and Muslim children in Britain notice. The trees, the windows, the songs at school. At some point most of them ask Nuri's question: when does ours begin?

You probably already know what you want to say. That Christmas is not one of our celebrations. That Muslims love and honour Jesus, 'Isa, as one of Allah's great messengers, and his mother Maryam, whom Allah chose and honoured. That our Christian neighbours believe differently about who he is, and we can be glad for them anyway.

The hard part is saying it to a four-year-old in a way that doesn't sound like a list of things they're missing.

This book says it through a story. A swan who wants a little brightness. A friend who explains it with a bicycle and the moon. A Baba who names 'Isa and Maryam with love. A Mama who answers the question underneath all the others. And a Thursday supper for Mr and Mrs Greene, where Nuri's red ribbon finally finds its place, brightening somebody else's evening.

Your child doesn't come away feeling left out. They come away knowing they belong, and that what they have is their own.

Inside the book

  • 27 illustrated story pages in watercolour
  • Set in St James's Park and around London in winter: Covent Garden, Selfridges, Harrods, Birdcage Walk
  • A gentle way into the Christmas conversation for Muslim families
  • 'Isa and Maryam introduced as Muslims know and honour them
  • Belonging, gratitude, dua in your own words, and kindness to neighbours at its heart
  • A limited edition hardback to keep

The Limited Edition

Nuri and the London Lights is a standalone Rutab title, outside the six-book collections. It is printed in a limited first run, so copies are few.

Limited Edition · £30 · On sale December 2026

A book for the lights, and for the way home.

Not a book against the season. Not a book that pretends it isn't happening.

A story for the children who walk past the windows every December, so they can enjoy the glow, stay exactly who they are, and paddle home knowing that what is theirs is already enough.
a gift for the kitchen table

Six colouring pages, drawn from our books.

Print them at home, leave them on the table with some pencils, and see what happens.

A bee from the colouring book, drawn in outline

Free, printable, and yours to keep.

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See inside the books

Watercolour, room on every page, and lines short enough for a four-year-old to say back to you. A few notes from the desk where they were written sit underneath.

Amira picking a fig from the laden tree while Mama watches
The fig tree was laden with soft fruit, so heavy the branches bent. She picked one, and it was sweet. “The figs are a gift too,” said Mama.
7
Every Good Thing · Surah Ar Rahman

We did not want to hand a child the word gratitude and hope it stuck. So she gets a fig instead, off a branch bending under the weight of it, something she can hold and taste and thank Him for.

The word can come later. The feeling has to come first.

Baba kneeling in the soil beside Yusuf at the new shoot
Baba knelt beside him. “You planted it,” he said. “But Allah grew it. That is how every good thing works.”
15
Yusuf sitting back on his heels, thinking about the shoot
Yusuf thought about that. He had done a small thing, and Allah had done the big one.
16
Who Makes It Grow? · Surah Al Waqiah

This is the spread we rewrote the most. Yusuf’s part had to remain real: he did plant it. And the growing had to remain something he could never do for himself. Both truths sit in one breath, so effort and trust never end up on opposite sides.

Then we stopped. No “because”. No “therefore”. No moral added afterwards. The moment had already said enough.

Rutab Books studies how young children learn, looks to the Quran and Prophetic example for guidance, and designs stories that help children notice the signs of Allah in everyday life.