Winner of the National Book Award for Young People's Literature
Page-turning WW2 hidden history masterfully told by award winner Daniel Nayeri
1941. The German armies are storming across Europe. Iran is a neutral country occupied by British forces on one side, Soviet forces on another. Soldiers fill the teahouses of Isfahan. Nazi spies roam the alleyways.
Babak and his little sister have just lost their father. Now orphans, fearing they will be separated, the two devise a plan. Babak will take up his father's old job as a teacher to the nomads. With a chalkboard strapped to Babak's back, and a satchel full of textbooks, the siblings set off to find the nomad tribes as they make their yearly trek across the mountains.
On the treacherous journey they meet a Jewish boy, hiding from a Nazi spy. And suddenly, they are all in a race for survival.
Against the backdrop of World War II comes an epic adventure in the faraway places. Through the cacophony of soldiers, tanks, and planes, can young hearts of different creeds and nations learn to find a common language?
Master storyteller Daniel Nayeri keeps you on the edge of your seat, uncertain to the very end.
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[STAR] "Heart-piercing… Babak's palpable love for his sister emphasizes the novel's suggestion that there is power in kindness, even in the face of tragedy. Lush details and taut plotting distinguish this immersive, profound offering.”
"A fictional story so utterly real the reader feels it must be true... The setting here — mountains, brush and beleaguered cities — is vivid and gritty. The characters, especially Sana and Ben, are so authentic you can hear their breath when they speak. The plot is as tight as an ocean-bound ship. But the glory of this book is the way it reaches across cultures and time to find an essential truth: 'What we want others to know, we must teach them.' Superb."
“Babak and Sana are immediately sympathetic and memorable, two children with whom readers can connect among the overwhelming global impacts that the long and brutal war had on millions of people. All too human interactions, like bickering brought on by exhaustion and hunger, deepen the connection that readers will likely have with the pair as the siblings grapple with new situations wildly outside of their comfort zones… does fantastic work contextualizing details to orient readers to an Iranian perspective within the more familiar, macro look at the war.”
[STAR] "Gripping… a remarkably intimate story of a neutral nation caught between warring powers, seamlessly integrating philosophical questions about God, family, and cross-cultural understanding and suggesting that truly listening to those different from us can be a sacred and transformative act… A compelling testament to the power of education and empathy to light the way in even the most perilous circumstances."
[STAR] “The artfully detailed setting and strong values depicted through Babak's endeavor to teach others will leave readers inspired. A powerful novel about an often-forgotten region and era that highlights the power of education through shared communication to create bonds.”
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