How Meen Habibi came to be.

Here's a fun fact for you! Meen Habibi was the very 1st book that we illustrated even before we officially launched the Zingo Ringo Books brand!  Our initial plans were to launch our brand with this book, a fitting ode to love for our youngest readers.  However budgets and strategy changes would mean that we would not launch it until November 2022 and we're so glad it turned out that way!  We worked really hard to perfect the production values of the book to offer you something solid, durable and stunning!  In fact, our first brief to the über-talented Dina Fawakhiri was to create a "coffee table book for babies." I believe, we not only met but exceeded that brief.  

The book is a culmination of many decisions that led to where we are today. We had planned to make Meen Habibi a board book but eventually changed to a hard cover maintaining the durable, high-quality board on the inside. We also adjusted the size and specs of the mirror multiple times to ensure that we could offer you and your littles ones a mirror that was safe, large, non-metallic and thin.  The mirror is of extremely high quality and can fit both mama/baba and baby when reading together, making for the perfect opportunity to bond, share snuggles and show love after the symphony of beautiful words read to your little one.

The illustration style and color palette also changed multiple times. We wanted a gender-neutral book that could appeal to mum's of boys or girls and a color palette that was soft and tender but vivid and striking enough for baby. Given the age target of this book, it was also important for us to feature contrasting images for baby's developing eyes.  Dina Fawakhiri's signature style and easily-recognizable black strokes fit this need perfectly. Despite being a book of very few words, we wanted to ensure that the emotional aspect of these words shone through so that whomever was reading them could immediately feel the words, especially as many of them are abstract and intangible (my soul [ya ro7i], my life [ya hayati]...) 

Here's a small look at how one of the spreads (my heart) changed drastically from 1st round to final print:

This unique, joyful, adorable book truly makes for the perfect gift for a new mum or new baby.  It's the perfect book to offer at a baby shower, to include in a baby gift hamper or even to gift on its own.  

We hope you will love it as much as we do. Please share your reviews with us. We always love to hear from you. To find out more about Meen Habibi or to purchase the book, click here.