Status
Available
Collection
Publication
HarperCollins (1997), Edition: 1st, 32 pages
Description
On a trip to the Moroccan market town of Rissani, Ali becomes separated from his father during a sandstorm.
Local notes
School Library Journal, 04/30/1997
K-Gr 3 Ali is proud to accompany his father on the yearly trek to market across the Sahara by camel, proving that he is ready to be a man. When a sudden sandstorm separates them, the boy finds shelter and solace with Abdul, an old Berber goatherd, and his grandson. That night, Abdul entertains and awes Ali with tales of his life as a young warrior. In the morning, Ali chooses to wait in the desert in the hope that his father will find him, rather than accompany the goatherd to the summer pasture. The musket shots Ali fires all day to draw attention to his position alert his father, and the two are joyously reunited and enter the market town together. The book's multiple themes of resourcefulness, bravery, and finding friendship with those different from oneself are briskly explored, and neatly and satisfyingly resolved. Lewin's detailed watercolors capture the dazzling, ever-changing colors of wide swaths of the Moroccan landscape, placing readers in each scene with startling immediacy. A visual feast. Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR
K-Gr 3 Ali is proud to accompany his father on the yearly trek to market across the Sahara by camel, proving that he is ready to be a man. When a sudden sandstorm separates them, the boy finds shelter and solace with Abdul, an old Berber goatherd, and his grandson. That night, Abdul entertains and awes Ali with tales of his life as a young warrior. In the morning, Ali chooses to wait in the desert in the hope that his father will find him, rather than accompany the goatherd to the summer pasture. The musket shots Ali fires all day to draw attention to his position alert his father, and the two are joyously reunited and enter the market town together. The book's multiple themes of resourcefulness, bravery, and finding friendship with those different from oneself are briskly explored, and neatly and satisfyingly resolved. Lewin's detailed watercolors capture the dazzling, ever-changing colors of wide swaths of the Moroccan landscape, placing readers in each scene with startling immediacy. A visual feast. Ellen Fader, Multnomah County Library, Portland, OR