Review by Booklist Review
Googoosh, an Iranian child vaudeville performer who grew up to be her country's first superstar, was on the brink of international stardom when the Islamic Revolution occurred in 1979. Like other popular entertainers, she was imprisoned and released only after agreeing to give up her public life in order to comply with Iran's strict interpretations of Islamic law. Even though she disappeared into obscurity, Googoosh was never forgotten by her fans, who clandestinely shared her tapes and records, both in Iran and abroad. This picture-book biography offers loving tribute, not only to Googoosh's career but to pre-revolutionary Iran, as the author shares childhood memories of favorite foods, sights, and sounds, including dancing and singing with friends to Googosh's latest releases. The story ends in Toronto in 2000 with Googoosh's triumphant return to the stage. Addressing Googoosh directly, the lyrical text features descriptive, wistful language, and the vintage-looking collage illustrations are especially effective, evoking a time and a place long gone. This is a lovely celebration of an iconic performer.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
While other Iranian children played and attended school, Faegheh Atashin (b. 1950) performed in her acrobat father's vaudeville acts, rising to fame with a singing voice that sounded "like the warbling bolbols that woke us at dawn." Under the stage name Googoosh, she became a cultural icon, even inspiring fashion trends, but the Iranian Revolution in 1979 abruptly stopped her career, banning solo musical performances by women. As many Iranians fled, "scattering across the world/ like wild, wind-blown poppies," Googoosh's music survived on recordings abroad until, in 2000, a political shift allowed her to again travel and perform. Second-person narration presents Googoosh's legacy through the lens of the Iranian diaspora. Westergaard's highly dimensional collage work, patterned and embellished with block prints, brush pens, and colored pencil, leans into portraiture and stage scenes in this ode to a beloved figure--"our one and only/ Googoosh." An author's note and biography conclude. Ages 4--8. (Nov.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1--3--Both heartbreak and a strong affirmation of common cultural ground shine out in this love note to a wildly popular performer who was forced into decades of silence in her native country by the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Faegheh Atashin, known as Googoosh, began her career when "your acrobat father pulled you out of his trouser cuffs." She rose to fame as a child who, from the age of four, sang like "the warbling bolbols that woke us at dawn," and later starred in over two dozen films. But at the peak of her fame in Iran, Googoosh went from being a public figure, as visible as the "snowcapped peaks of the Alborz Mountains," to just recordings carried by refugees who fled the country after a new regime outlawed even "the sound of a woman's singing voice." But when at last, in 2000, she was allowed to leave the country and sing again, thousands of expatriate fans gathered for her comeback concert in Canada. "Then when you finally sang," the author writes, "and the ribbons of memory unspooled around our feet,/ we were all together again/ in our homeland." Along with the details of Googoosh's story, and her own personal one, in an equally eloquent afterword, Westergaard creates layered illustrations that place expressive cut-paper images of the charismatic star and her audiences over block print backgrounds to evoke the waves of restrained but intense feelings. VERDICT Enticing glimpses of both a country's troubled history and of a cultural icon who will be new to most young audiences.--John Edward Peters
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
An adoring, wistful diaspora remembers the single-named Iranian singer Googoosh. Collages of painted cut paper create funky and nostalgic visions of pre-1979 Iran as Googoosh first takes the stage at age 2 with her acrobat father. The young performer appears surrounded by textured rose petals, resplendent in pomegranate red. As other children play and go to school, her star rises, capturing the heart of a nation with her resonant voice: "Like the snowcapped peaks of the Alborz Mountains, / you were everywhere we turned." Westergaard lovingly brings to life this childhood narrative of Iran, relying on a warm palette and layered paper shapes and melodic text that praises the deliciousness of "warm babari bread" and "salted boiled beets." Two stark full-spread illustrations nearly sapped of color depict the moment everything changed, with a man holding up a sign in front of a vast crowd that reads "انقلاب" ("inqilāb," or "revolution" in Farsi)--and then an empty stage with dark curtains closed. "The sound of a woman's singing voice-- / outlawed." Many people, including Googoosh's fans, leave the country, "scattering across the world / like wild, windblown poppies." Even while acknowledging great sadness, however, the story exudes joy in the way displaced Iranians preserve their memories and culture. More than just a loving tribute to one particular singer, this is a rich concoction of immigrant yearning. A radiant love letter to a treasured artist--and to a long-gone way of life. (author's note, more about Googoosh, sources, photograph)(Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
