Customer Reviews

Celebrating Norouz (Persian New Year)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book ended my desperate search for material to present to my kids'
schools about Norooz! Ever since my first child started pre-school (he
is 8 now and in 3rd grade), I have been looking for a good book to
introduce Norooz to his classmates. Every year, I have done my
improvisation of what I thought was the best language for kids to
follow. But needless to say, my presentations would go way over their
head, and I could see that they were anxious for me to pass the goodies
around!! Last year, I ordered a video called "bachehaye Bahar". It was
supposed to have a description of Norooz in English as well. It was yet
another disappointment. Besides the very bad quality of filming and
sound, the whole thing was in Farsi!

In this book, Yassaman talks about Norooz very eloquently from a child's
perspective who is born and raised here in the US (San Jose). Both my
kids, 6 and 8 enjoyed the book and now for the first time, I finally
have a book to share with their class about Norooz! I highly recommend
it to all parents with young children.

The book is well written and simple. Perfect for little ones who have a short attention span and love colorful pictures. The book is perfect to read to a pre-school class. The activities in the back of the book were also a hit with my 4 year old. Also a perfect gift for youngsters, your pre-school and local library.

My children attend the local Montessori program. I bought two copies of the book, one for them at home and one for their school. Before the new year I donated the book along with a small Sabzeh (sprouts grown for Persian New Year) to the classroom library. Their teacher loved it and read the book aloud for other children.
I read this and all other books in Farsi for my children, so I wish the author had provided the Farsi translation as well. They are at an age now that can distinguish Farsi script from English, and wonder how or why I am reading an English book in Farsi!

Norouz is a very special holiday for Persians. I was a bit disappointed that the book is very basic and does not give the holiday a bit of "magic". Talks about going to the grocery, watching TV and calling relatives over the phone...while true, it does not attempt to paint Norouz as more meaningful.

While this book has a cute little story written in it about a kid and what his family does for Nowruz/Persian New Year, it fails to deliver the quality of a book that costs almost $13.00. There is only one story, very basic with drawings that look like they were done by a five year old. The activities included are only a few coloring pages that again looks like it was drawn by a very young child. I would NOT RECOMMEND this book to be purchased by anyone for anything over $5.00. For the price I expected MUCH more and its description is deceiving. It does not have many activities and the story does not appropriately capture the true essence of this beautiful holiday.