Overview

Some 250 years ago, the Great King Ahmad Shah Durrani ruled Afghanistan and, from there, a magnificent empire extending from eastern Iran to northern India, and from the Amu Darya River to the Indian Ocean. Known to his people as Ahmad Shah Baba (Ahmad Shah, our father), the beloved king was an outstanding general and a just and wise ruler. But he was vexed with all kinds of problems that threatened his kingdom, and he realized he needed to find someone with the right qualities to help him. The big question was how to find such a person. Among other things, this story provides a framework through which young readers can consider and discuss the qualities one needs in order to live a useful and happy life. This intriguing legend is retold for young people by the Afghan storyteller and teacher Palwasha Bazger Salam, and is beautifully illustrated by artist Natasha Delmar. Additional pages include a biography of Ahmad Shah, a map of the Durrani Empire and suggested discussion points.

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9781946270399

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Reviews

... highly recommended - Midwest Book Review (U.S.) These teaching stories can be experienced on many levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them; an adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way. Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within. - All Things Considered, National Public Radio (U.S.) They [teaching stories] suggest ways of looking at difficulties that can help children solve problems calmly while, at the same time, giving them fresh perspectives on these difficulties that help them develop their cognitive abilities - psychologist Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., in his lecture Teaching Stories and the Brain given at the U.S. Library of Congress Through repeated readings, these stories provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. Beautifully illustrated. - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.) These stories ... are not moralistic fables or parables, which aim to indoctrinate, nor are they written only to amuse. Rather, they are carefully designed to show effective ways of defining and responding to common life experiences. - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.), writing in Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.) ... these are vibrant, engaging, universal stories.... - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.) ... a series of children's books that have captivated the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. The books are tales from a rich tradition of story telling from Central Asia and the Middle East. Stories told and retold to children, by campfire and candlelight, for more than a thousand years. - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.) ... they not only entertain, but can be understood on many different levels and provide a form of 'nourishment for the brain' that can help develop thinking abilities and perceptions. - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.)

Author Information

Palwasha Bazger Salam holds degrees in early childhood education from Kabul University in Afghanistan and from the University of Las Vegas in Nevada, where she currently lives and teaches. As Director of Teacher Education in Kabul for Hoopoe Books' Books for Afghanistan program, she helped develop the program's Afghan curriculum, trained the Afghan teacher-training staff and translated Hoopoe's books into Dari and Pashto. Ms. Salam comes from a family of storytellers and has continued that tradition in her retelling of two Hoopoe titles: The Wisdom of Ahmad Shah and The Stranger's Farewell.

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