Meyer Azaad

This original Persian folk tale is the story of a little bird who is learning from his father. Once the father has taught his son how to fly and taught him how to find grain, he sends him into the fields to find something useful. The little bird finds a strange plant that is prickly on the outside and soft on the inside. The father sends the little bird off to visit the spinner, who tells him that he has found a cotton boll, and spins it into yarn. He then visits the weaver, the dyer, and the dressmaker, giving each of them half of what they have crafted for him, until he has a beautiful scarf to show his father.

Like all folktales, this story speaks on many levels. First is the teaching that the little bird receives from the father, as the father bird first teaches the little bird and then sends the little bird out into the world to learn for himself. Second is the idea of many different people contributing their effort into making one beautiful thing; this is a great way to start a discussion with your child about how the things in his world were made. Finally, this is a story about cooperative economics (or “Ujamaa” in Swahili, one of the Seven Kwanzaa Principles), as each of the craftspeople shares part of what they have created and everyone is made the richer for it. This picture book is deceptively simple yet still has much to say. Review by Book Dads… (mehr)