I've long been a fan of fairy tale retellings (watch for another post on this theme later this week!), and as a kid I loved reading the 'complete book of fairy tales' compilation that my grandparents had. The story of Scherazade was included in that compilation, and I always admired her bravery in standing up to the Sultan.
In the Reading Together Family Exploration Book Club we're discussing books set in Iran for May and June (I'm excited to reread Persepolis next month!), and the May selection is Susan Fletcher's Shadow Spinner. In this story, a young servant named Marjan (who has a crippled foot), dreams of becoming a storyteller like the famed Shahrazad.
Then, to Marjan's surprise, she gets drawn into the intrigue of the harem, and ends up helping Shahrazad spin stories to the sultan.
It was a cute book, but I kind of had a hard time getting into it. I think that was mostly because I didn't love the narrator, and for some reason the Pima County library system only has the book available on audio. I loved the twist on the familiar Shahrazad story though, and I think it's one I'd like to get Eleanor to read in a couple of years (once I'm ready to explain what a harem is, ha!).
Do you like fairy tale retellings?
Don't forget to link-up your own Iran-themed posts for this month's RTFEBC link-up, and be sure to check out Katie and Sheila's posts about it.
