“Izza’s Tea Party” by Hashmat Effendi

• 01/19/2022
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Izza’s Tea Party: A Family Guide to Fire Safety and Burn Prevention

Hashmat Effendi
AuthorHouse (2021)
ISBN 9781665519779
Reviewed by Lydia (age 7) for Reader Views Kids (12/2021)

“Izza’s Tea Party” is about a little girl who learns from her family how to be safe around fire and other hot things that could burn her or cause her harm. Izza wakes up one morning with her pet dog and bird, excited to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house later that day. I understand this because I love to visit my grandparents when I can! Izza gets to their house and follows Grandma into the kitchen where she’s making hot tea. Grandma has to first boil the water on the stove and she explains to Izza that she should always stay five steps away from the stove—because of the fire that’s boiling the water, and how the water, one boiled, could also burn her if it spilled. Izza stays far away after hearing that. Grandma then puts the tea on the table in the other room with some cake, too. Grandma leaves the room and Izza decides she wants to try some cake. Izza isn’t tall enough to reach on top of the table, so she pulls the tablecloth to bring the cake closer to her, but the hot tea is coming, too! Izza learns from her mom to never pull on the tablecloth to get something because if there’s something hot, like boiling tea, it will tip over, burn her, and leave scars.

I liked “Izza’s Tea Party” because it taught me something. I am always told by my parents to stay away from our stove or oven when it is open, but I hadn’t heard about staying five feet away. Usually I just go in the other room, which is way more than five feet. I knew that hot things burn you, but it’s still scary to think about it actually happening. The pictures in the book were fun to look at because they were colorful and show what’s happening in the story. I like the end of the book where there are some activities for kids to do, too, like true or false questions, circle the right pictures, and even a certificate given to the reader!

A Note from Mom: “Izza’s Tea Party” teaches an important lesson on how to prevent unnecessary harm, both externally and internally, to kids and adults who may never have been taught proper fire and burn safety. I liked that the book was educational but also interactive to a degree, in that after reading a couple of pages, you could practice the rule with your child(ren). The extra activities at the end are nice for reinforcing the idea of staying five feet away from fire and hot liquids. While reading, I got the impression that it was a story, but it also seemed to end abruptly, like it was a snippet of a show or something bigger in scale. Overall, however, the author got his point across and did so in a smart way for kids to understand.