Review by Horn Book Review
Mah Jahan, a wealthy Persian merchant, collects birds during her travels, keeping them in cages or chains so that they couldnt fly away and leave her. When her favorite bird, a talking parrot, asks her to visit its former colony of wild parrots in India (Tell them that I miss them, and that makes me sad. Ask them if they have any advice for me), the merchant does, and is shocked when one of the wild birds drops dead. Back home, Mah Jahan reluctantly tells her parrot what happened; to her surprise, it also drops dead. When Mah Jahan removes the parrot from its cage, it suddenly takes flight; playing dead was just a ruse. Thank you for the gift of freedom that you brought me from India!It was a story sent by my friends to teach me how to escape. First published in Tehran in 2013, this retelling of Rumis thirteenth-century fable changes the gender of the merchant from male to female. Illustrations employ unusual color combinations and loads of texture and detail. Humans and birds alike are depicted mostly in profile; the single eye on each character stares back at viewers in an unsettling way. Mah Jahans entourage of servants acts as a Greek chorus, observing from the sidelines with exaggerated body language and facial expressions. A thought-provoking, visually striking tale about the capacity and limits of love, and how loving something can mean letting it go. julie hakim azzam September/October 2019 p.106(c) Copyright 2019. 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
A tale of Rumi, the famous Persian poet, in which interactions between humans and animals result in a memorable moral.Mah Jahan is a Persian merchant who travels widely and trades in all sorts of things. On one of her trips to India, she brings back a "beautiful bright parrot" to add to her collection of caged birds; it quickly becomes her favorite bird, and she loves it dearly. Before traveling again, Mah Jahan asks her servants and the parrot what they would like her to bring them back as gifts. The servants share what they would like, but the parrot's request is unusual: It asks Mah Jahan to tell all its old friends in India it misses them and to solicit their advice for it. In seeking to bring the parrot's requested gift, Mah Jahan does not get what she expected, and the gift eventually results in the bird's freedom. This old Rumi tale is adapted by making the merchant a woman but is not otherwise significantly modernized. Iranian illustrator Vafaeian's ornamented, often surreal illustrations depict Mah Jahan in enormous, colorful skirts and frequently surrounded by comparatively tiny servants. The parrot's cage is likewise stylized, an ornamented circle that contains the unhappy captive. Despite the exuberant color used as highlights, the gray-and-sepia illustrations are often gloomy, befitting its theme.This 900-year-old story has not lost its classic feel. (Picture book. 6-9) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
