- Graphic Novels
- Ages 10–14
- Contemporary
Almost Sunset
A warm, funny middle-grade graphic novel about Ramadan, family, faith, school, and trying to get through a long day of fasting. It is a particularly useful recommendation for everyday Muslim representation that is accessible rather than issue-heavy.
- Best for10–14
- FormatGraphic
- Length224 pp
- Read aloud~1 hr45 min
The vibe
What it’s like.
Style
- Conversational
- Comedic
Tone
- Funny
- Warm
- Heartwarming
- Thought provoking
Themes
Experience meters
What’s it about?
The story.
Hassan is trying to make it through Ramadan while juggling school, family expectations, friendships, and the very real difficulty of fasting when everyone around him seems to be eating. As the day moves closer to sunset, small frustrations and funny mishaps build into a story about patience, identity, and what it means to participate in a tradition that connects you to family and community. Wahab Algarmi uses the graphic-novel format to make Hassan's world immediate and lively, balancing humour with cultural specificity and emotional warmth. Almost Sunset is not a lecture about Ramadan; it is a character-led story about a child experiencing it in all its awkward, funny, hungry, meaningful detail.
Fit check
Right for your child?
Where it lands by age
- 1
- 3
- 5
- 7
- 9
- 11
- 13
- Best fit · 10–14
- Read aloud · 9–13
- Independent · 10–14
Prose load
Light
Visual support
Very high
Reluctant-reader friendly
Very
Read-aloud quality
Workable
Works well for
- Bedtime
- Gift-buying
- Reluctant readers
Nothing in the book is likely to concern most parents. Safe to recommend without preview.
Bedtime suitability
4 / 5 · Bedtime-friendly
Sensitive-child
5 / 5 · Good fit
Graphic intensity
1 / 5 · None
Best for
- Ramadan story
- Muslim representation
- Realistic graphic novel
- Family and school
- Reluctant reader pick
Avoid if
- Wants fantasy
- Wants high action
- Needs non religious story
Particularly good for children who are…
- Religious or cultural celebration
- Low self esteem
- Making friends
In the classroom
How it works in school.
A warm contemporary graphic novel about fasting, family and identity — strong for empathy and discussion of culture and belonging, and accessible for older readers.
A book children love that happens to support school — never a stand-in for the texts a class is taught with. Reviewed for the classroom · June 2026.
Why it lands
Why they love it.
Why kids love it
The specific weight is the hunger and the clock — Hassan trying to get through Ramadan around school and friends and family, everyone else eating, the day moving slowly toward sunset and iftar. The Wahab Algarmi graphic novel for a child mid-fast or a friend wanting to understand one.
- Family belonging
- Being understood finally
- Friendship and belonging
- Proving yourself
Why parents love it
The Wahab Algarmi middle-grade graphic novel — Ramadan as the setting rather than a lecture, fasting and faith and family woven into ordinary middle-grade comedy. Useful for everyday Muslim representation that's character-led rather than issue-heavy.
- Cultural representation
- Conversation starter
- Shared humour
- Quick to read
About the author & illustrator
Wahab Algarmi.
If you liked this
Three ways out of this book.
If you liked this, try…
Lateral matches. Same shelf, different texture.
Come into this from…
Easier or preparing reads — perfect lead-ins.
Where to go next…
Escalation reads — a step up in scale, silliness, or stakes.
More like this…
Books that share themes and topics with this one.
Where you’ll find it
On these reading lists.
Buy or borrow
Pick up a copy.
- Bookshop.org ↗
- Waterstones ↗
- Amazon UK ↗
- Hive ↗
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