Review by Booklist Review
Once there was a girl named Shahrzad who loved stories. One day she encounters a sad boy who tells her a story about his kingdom, which is ruled by a king so angry that the boy and his family can never return home. Shahrzad is intrigued, and when she finds a toy plane in a store, she imagines herself piloting it and zooming to the boy's homeland. There she encounters the king himself and persuades him to let her tell him stories. And so she does for 1,001 nights (a la The Arabian Nights). The stories move the king to reform and repeal his cruel laws, and his subjects rejoice! Shahrzad then opens her eyes and finds herself back in the store. Iranian author-illustrator Kazemi's childlike tale celebrates the power of story itself, and it's complemented by the naive-style artwork, featuring muted colors, evocative facial expressions, and stylized, slightly cartoonish figures. This picture book works well thematically with Evan Turk's The Storyteller (2016) and more directly with Wafa' Tarnowska's The Arabian Nights (2010).
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this Scheherazade variation, its storyteller heroine becomes a modern child: light-skinned Shahrzad, an inveterate eavesdropper who loves stories, finding them "in peoples' faces and gestures, in shops and cafes, and throughout the city's streets" as well as on public transit. "She thought hard about each story she heard, and what it might mean, no matter where she was" (using the toilet and the shower, for example), and both regales others with and documents the tales. When a light-skinned boy at a park tells Shahrzad that he and his family have had to leave their country because their grief-stricken king passed laws that make life unbearable, Shahrzad imagines herself flying in a toy plane straight to the palace to confront the monarch. Art by author-illustrator Kazemi (The Old Woman) appears scribbly and informally stylized, with subtly expressive characters and spreads that are alive with texture and color. As Shahrzad dazzles the king day after day with tales that prod him to consider the consequences of his actions, Kazemi illuminates the storyteller's gift (and the book's own): the ability to juggle different points of view, and to use stories as visions for change. Ages 7--up. (Jan.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3--5--Kazemi's version of the legendary tale of Sheherazade starts with a girl who loves stories. In a modern setting, Shahrzad, with fuzzy black cropped hair and caterpillar-like black eyebrows against pale skin, listens for stories everywhere and then recounts them to others. When she hears about an angry king who creates cruel laws, she steps in. Through daily doses of storytelling, each one building on the last, she is able to make the king become kind, with her last story telling him of himself, the grief for his late wife that has made him mean, and his reform. Other than Shahrzad 's name, there are few clues for readers unfamiliar with the original, but one of them may send some to the source: "One thousand and one nights passed. Or maybe it was just ten, or a hundred, or a hundred and one." Thus readers are invited into the secret, that this tale, and all the stories of the Arabian nights, here flattened into a child's whimsical love of storytelling, have lessons for us all. Although readers are left wondering what was Shahrzad's dream, and what was real, this sweet book captures the power of storytelling and the fun of creative imagination. Pastel illustrations create a calming sense at times and dynamism in other scenes. The vocabulary, used lyrically, will challenge some in the picture book set. VERDICT This is a clever tale that uses storytelling to show how people can change, but with its length and advanced word choices may not suit everyone.--Tracey Hodges, Univ. of Alabama, Northport, AL
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Review by Horn Book Review
Shahrzad, a little girl with black corkscrew hair, beetling brows, and a trusty scooter, likes stories. She seeks them out and tucks them away. One day she hears about a king in a distant land whose personal sorrows have turned him into a tyrant. This is her moment. Piloting her own plane, she travels to a land of minarets and onion domes and finds this sad and angry king isolated in his palace, grieving and oppressing his people. Day after day she tells him stories until she senses that he is ready to hear his own tale reflected back to him with understanding, sympathy, and a nudge toward a change of heart. This wise and witty riff on the Scheherazade framing tale of The Arabian Nights merges everyday and fairy-tale worlds, with respect for the traditional job of folklore to encourage us to shape up and fly right. The pictures are energetic, with a wide-ranging cast of characters, cheeky humor (Shahrzad gets in some thinking time while sitting on the toilet), and Chagall-like warmth and exuberance. A dark undertone and contemporary political resonance are there for those who are ready for it, but for everyone it's an original contribution to picture books about smart girls who save the world. Sarah Ellis January/February 2022 p.88(c) Copyright 2022. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
This reframing of the classic One Thousand and One Nights explores universal themes through a contemporary lens. Having fallen in love with stories at an early age, pale-skinned Shahrzad, with her springy black curls, is "always waiting for another story." By the time she meets a sad boy in the park, she is an adept storyteller and budding writer. The account of the boy's family--they fled an angry king whose life was touched by tremendous loss--introduces additional dimensions to this rich tale that is, by turns, realistic and magical. Readers journey with Shahrzad as her imagination takes flight via a toy airplane. Her encounter with the angry king hones her narrative powers while enabling the king to transcend his prolonged grief and revoke his harsh laws. The illustrations convey Shahrzad's probing wit and a youngster's whimsical representation of the story world, which includes a reference to One Thousand and One Nights (or "maybe it was just ten"). While Shahrzad wears the same dress throughout the book, her appearance varies, alternating in scale and vantage point, thereby raising an intriguing question about the protagonist's perspective. Are we seeing her as a "girl" or as a writer recalling her own childhood memories? In this manner, the overall narrative invites us to ponder the nature of time as both cyclical and linear. Clever construction and intertextual inspirations weave a thought-provoking homage to a fabled heroine and master storyteller. (Picture book. 5-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
