The 12th-century Persian Sufi poet Nizami lived in what is now Azerbaijan, where his grave is still a place of pilgrimage. This collection of related tales, based on his epic poem Haft Paykar, recounts the story of Shah Bahram, who is taught and inspired by seven princesses from faraway lands. Bahram constructs a pavilion for each of the princesses, in their colors and inspired by their planets. He visits each on the appropriate auspicious day of the week, and listens to each tell a story. On Saturday, Bahram dresses in black and visits the Indian Princess Furaq in the pavilion of Saturn, where she tells the tale of one who loses paradise for a moment of impatience. On Sunday, he dresses in yellow for the Greek Princess Humay, surrounded by daffodils and sunflowers, and learns from the tale of an emir who fears marriage—with good reason. Bahram continues through the days of the week and the tales, each one ripe with symbolism and rich in color, aroma, and vision. The illustrations, inspired by Persian miniature painting, are sumptuous and exquisitely detailed. The stories themselves each have a hero who needs to learn a particular virtue, and usually end in kisses and marriage. Exotic in tone and a pleasure to look upon. (Folklore. 10-14)
Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2000
ISBN: 1-84148-022-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Barefoot Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
“Hear, and listen well, my friends, and I will tell you a tale that has been told for a thousand years and more.” It’s not exactly a rarely told tale, either, though this complete rendition is distinguished by both handsome packaging and a prose narrative that artfully mixes alliterative language reminiscent of the original, with currently topical references to, for instance, Grendel’s “endless terror raids,” and the “holocaust at Heorot.” Along with being printed on heavy stock and surrounded by braided borders, the text is paired to colorful scenes featuring a small human warrior squaring off with a succession of grimacing but not very frightening monsters in battles marked by but a few discreet splashes of blood. Morpurgo puts his finger on the story’s enduring appeal—“we still fear the evil that stalks out there in the darkness . . . ”—but offers a version unlikely to trouble the sleep of more sensitive readers or listeners. (Fiction. 10-12)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7636-3206-6
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Candlewick
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2006
If Rotten Ralph were a boy instead of a cat, he might be Joey, the hyperactive hero of Gantos's new book, except that Joey is never bad on purpose. In the first-person narration, it quickly becomes clear that he can't help himself; he's so wound up that he not only practically bounces off walls, he literally swallows his house key (which he wears on a string around his neck and which he pull back up, complete with souvenirs of the food he just ate). Gantos's straightforward view of what it's like to be Joey is so honest it hurts. Joey has been abandoned by his alcoholic father and, for a time, by his mother (who also drinks); his grandmother, just as hyperactive as he is, abuses Joey while he's in her care. One mishap after another leads Joey first from his regular classroom to special education classes and then to a special education school. With medication, counseling, and positive reinforcement, Joey calms down. Despite a lighthearted title and jacket painting, the story is simultaneously comic and horrific; Gantos takes readers right inside a human whirlwind where the ride is bumpy and often frightening, especially for Joey. But a river of compassion for the characters runs through the pages, not only for Joey but for his overextended mom and his usually patient, always worried (if only for their safety) teachers. Mature readers will find this harsh tale softened by unusual empathy and leavened by genuinely funny events. (Fiction. 11-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-374-33664-4
Page Count: 154
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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