THE BOOK THAT ALMOST RHYMED by Omar Abed

Review by Kristi Mahoney

The Book That Almost Rhymed (Dial Books, 2024), written by debut author Omar Abed and beautifully illustrated by Hatem Aly is one of my favorite reads in the past year. It features a boy retelling a perfectly fantastic story in rhyme, only to be continuously interrupted by his little sister. She inserts ridiculous words that do not rhyme with his story! Do pirates even dance? Is there even such a thing as a fire-breathing armadillo? Despite his frustration, he reluctantly includes his sister, and without completely spoiling the ending, let’s just say if he had not….

it would have been an opportunity missed,

for what turned out to be an amazing twist! 
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On Writing:
Many debut or newer authors face the dilemma –to rhyme or not to rhyme? We’re typically told to steer away from it, but we’re also told it’s important to be authentically ourselves. What happens when everything continues to pour out in rhyme? This is exactly what happened to Omar. In an interview with Kailei Pew Books he admitted, “I struggled to write poetically without rhyming. Everything that came to mind rhymed… or almost rhymed, but not quite. That’s where THE BOOK THAT ALMOST RHYMED was born. I wanted a chance to indulge the side of me that couldn’t force everything to rhyme, while also giving into my rhyming tendencies.”

In short, Omar took a writing hazard and made it an asset, then hit it out of the park!

When faced with a similar situation, here’s how to use The Book That Almost Rhymed as a mentor text:

• If you’re going to rhyme, do it well and with a purpose - Omar is being humble when he said he couldn’t force everything to rhyme. Nothing about this book feels forced. It’s masterfully written by someone who clearly knows what they’re doing.

 

• Humor and heart are great, but best together – Kids love to laugh, but adding in some heartfelt moments, like Omar does with the sibling relationship, helps to instill that warm and fuzzy feeling that makes readers want to read the story over and over again.

 

• Make the lesson subtle –there’s a great lesson tucked within this book that doesn’t feel didactic.

 

• Add a clever twist  – adding a twist took this story from one that would make kids laugh to one that has racked up awards, starred reviews, and the praise of parents, educators and fellow writers everywhere.

 

• Finish the puzzle – there were a lot of parts to this story. There was the story, the story within a story, two storytellers, and a lot of chaos. If this story was a puzzle, at one point there were pieces scattered all over the table. However, in the end, each puzzle piece was perfectly placed leaving us, as readers, with a very satisfied feeling of completion in the end.

 

• Leave readers excited for more – Although the story ended, Omar’s last page hinted at future possibilities for this very likable sibling duo. Fingers crossed we, as readers, get to join them! 

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 To learn more about author Omar Abed visit him online at one of these places: https://omarabed.com/ , 
https://www.instagram.com/omarabedwrites , https://www.facebook.com/OmarAbedWrites , https://bsky.app/profile/omarabedwrites.bsky.social, or https://x.com/OmarAbedWrites. 

To learn more about illustrator Hatem Aly, visit him at one these places: https://www.metahatem.com/books.html, https://www.instagram.com/metahatem , https://www.facebook.com/metahatem, https://bsky.app/profile/metahatem.bsky.social or https://x.com/metahatem