Customer Reviews

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Buran and her six sisters were born to a poor merchant who never makes enough money to take his family out of poverty. His brother, however, is a very rich merchant. He has six sons and he often comes to his brother's house or shop with one of his sons just for the purpose of gloating. Buran has been far more educated than any other girl because her father wanted someone to play chess with him and talk and write with him and because she is the one who wants to learn, he teaches her many things.
After one of her uncle's visits, which made her father particularly unhappy, Buran puts forward an idea which she has been thinking for a while. She asks her father to make an investment with the tiny amount of money he has saved up. She asks him to invest in her. She wants to dress as a boy and go to the coast to make much money as a merchant. Her mother thinks this is a bad idea because girls are not supposed to make money, but her father gives her free rein.
On her way to the coast in a caravan, she wants to save money, so she travels as a servant. Her master is cruel to her during the days, but at night, he teaches her the way of a merchant. When she finally gets to the city, she pays off the merchant who taught her everything she knows extremely quickly, and then proceeds to make enough money to live extremely richly, and send enough money back to her family so they can live very richly. While there she makes a new friend, but fears that if she reveals her true identity to him, he would hate her. When he comes close to figuring it out on his own, she runs away. During her journey home, she doubles her riches, as well as playing a clever trick on her cousins. If I include any more, I'll give away the entire plot, and you won't have to read the book.
The book was very, very good. There was nothing wrong with it. It goes with the classic plot of society thinks girls are stupid, main character proves them wrong in a big way, good stuff happens to main character. Another example of this plot is Mulan.

This book was recommended by a teenage friend and I found myself inhaling it!

Taken from a traditional Iraqui folktale, we meet Buran, the fourth daughter out of seven of a poor merchant. Her braggart uncle has seven sons: which he lords over Buran's family constantly.

Buran, a favorite of her father, hatches an idea to dress like a man and open a store in a larger city, Tyre. After a near-tragedy in the family, he agrees. Off she goes and along the way learns lessons about perseverence, determination, and good business from an unlikely source. Buran is tenacious in seeking out her goal: to provide for her family. Her strong nature and unselfish manner makes her an interesting character for girls -- for those interested in a little romance and wonder how Muslim girls go about getting their prince...the story conveniently switches to his story in the second section of the book.

Mahmud is a merchant prince who longs for a friend. Though he has two close friends, they both want from him and Mahmud wants a friend who asks for nothing. He finds it in a young clever merchant named Narsi. Mahmud and Narsi enjoy walks and backgammon -- in one another they find common ground. However, their unusual friendship attracts jealousy from Mahmud's previous friends and Mahmud is tricked in testing Narsi for being a boy or a girl. Narsi disappears before the third test which would be impossible for her to hide her sex...and it distresses Mahmud who realizes too late he was set up and that his heart desire -- his life desire -- has just slipped away.

In the third section of the book, Buran regretfully leaves Mahmud to return home only to discover an opportunity to humble her seven male cousins -- all of whom have turned out to not be the successful businessmen her bragged about but wasteful young men. In turn, she tricks them into putting a tattoo'd "B" on their chest. She triumphantly returns to her family, though her heart longs for Mahmud...who she believes will hate her if discovering her secret. Will true love prevail?

The story is full of color and introduces a little-understood culture. Cohen subtly introduces the Iraqui culture, their method of trading, and the manners of family. Written in 1983 before the current conflict, the book would be excellent to those curious of the people and places we see on the news and could possibly be used a centerpiece on middle-eastern culture.

I assigned this book to my daughter as reading for her history curriculum because it was based in the Middle East during the middle ages. Fortunately, I read the book first and was able to stop her before she reached the suggestive language that was contained at the end of Part II and the beginning of Part III. In the end of Part II, the prince talked about the way he was feeling about Buran (who was disguised as Nasir). In the beginning of Part III, Buran describes how she felt about the prince, including how it felt to be behind him on horseback. In addition, (s)he describes in detail how her body looked when she was naked.

This book was recommended for my 11 year old child, I strongly disagree! If you are considering this book for a school-age child, I would suggest either finding another book or reading the center section (end of Pt II, beginning of Pt III to your child, leaving out the suggestive details), after you have read it first, of course.

Other than this, this book did a good job describing how people lived, married, and traded in this time period in the middle east as well as the role of women in this setting.

I just finished this book as a prelude to using it in a 5th and 6th grade literature group. I am anxious to read this book with the kids who will relate, not only to the geographic areas, since we just finished a unit on Mesopotamia, but also to the age old story of making personal decisions that have an impact on the lives of many. In this world of male versus female struggles, we see that even in Ancient Persia, Buran, a female, makes a success of herself (although disguised as a man) and yet never divulges her true feelings for the Prince of Tyre. She is a woman that females and males can look up to and admire for her wisdom and dedication to family. A wonderful read for everyone.

My favorite quick read of the year! A very entertaining, romantic story.

Some of the observations about business are still true today. Venture capitalists are still looking for that unique product that will make a fortune.

There was one page I could have done without: at the point in the plot when the main character decides she's tired of pretending to be a man and is ready to be a woman, the authors got a little carried away, even risqué for children's literature, in describing the main character viewing her feminine body. I understand what they were trying to achieve, but we "got it" with a lot less ink.

I loved the "lesson" at the end of the book: you can't always just sit and wait for blessings to "fall into your lap". Sometimes you have to be willing to seek, to risk, and to work for them. Catherine Marshall encouraged the same kind of action in her book Adventures in Prayer, in the chapter entitled, "The Prayer That Helps Your Dreams Come True."

This book retells a traditional Arab folktale about how a woman helps her poor family to prosperity and revenge themselves on her rich uncle who scorned them. Not only does this book relate a great story that many of us haven't heard, it also gives a clear and colorful picture of the ancient Arabian culture. The characters are believable and easily likable and the story proceeds quickly, making this an excellent choice for middle school readers and up. I especially recommend this book for young women, because the way the main character Buran believes in herself and takes on a whole society is quite inspiring.

If you have read this book and enjoyed it, may I also suggest you check out these stories?
"Beauty" by Robin McKinley
"Dragon's Blood" by Jane Yolen
"The Blue Sword" by Robin McKinley

This is my favorite book. It has such good writing, and it makes me feel like I'm part of the book, watching all the events as they happen. It is about the beautiful daughter of a merchant named Buran living in Baghdad. Her father has seven daughters, and is considered to be cursed, and can barely make enough money to support his family. Her extraordinarily rich uncle has seven sons, and is considered to be extremely blessed. Her uncle is very greedy and never shares with his brother. Instead he comes everyday to boast about his success and laughs at the idea that one of his sons might marry Buran or one of her six sisters. Her family begins to get desparate. So desparate, in fact, that Buran's father finally argees to her greatest dream. Buran will dress as a boy and travel to Tyre, where she will make her fortune as a merchant. She does not give up hope even when luck is not on her side. And she succeeds more than she could have possibly imagined. After her newforund success, Buran hers the prince of Tyre, Mahmud al-amir. The two become good friends. But to Buran, he is not only her greatest friend, but her truest love. But she knows Mahmud will hate having been deceived when he discovers her deepest secret. For indeed, he does have a suspision of it. So he tests her, trying to see if she is a man or a woman. When Buran realizes she is being tested, she fleas with a heavy heart back to Baghdad. What she does not know was that even after Mahmud discovers her secret, he does not hate her. In fact, he learns to admit what his heart knew all along....

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons is mainly about an Arab girl who decides to help her family. But not in the way you would think. In this place and time period, girls weren't allowed or expected to be able to manage a business. That's what the boys do. So when Buran's father (who has seven daughters, and no one to help him) becomes in desperate need of money, Buran decides to help. So she disguises herself as a boy, travels to a distant city, and becomes a very successful merchant. Now meanwhile, Buran's rich uncle has seven sons, and he has sent them to distant cities to become merchants. Unfortunately, they don't do so well. So, later in the story, after Buran becomes rich as well, she discovers that the sons wasted her uncle's money, and she tricks them into doing something that will be very humiliating for them later.
Oh, and while Buran is disguised as a boy, she falls in love with the city's crown prince, Mahmud. Of course, he thinks she is a boy, and she can't tell him the truth because she would lose everything she has worked for.

Part of the story is told by Buran, another part by Mahmud. But it all collaborates nicely to tell a tale of adventure and romance. I think it would be best for ages 10&up. I believe even adults would enjoy it, but teens especially would love it.

If you like stories like this, I reccomend all of Tamora Pierce's "Song of the Lioness" books. They're a lot like this one, with the girl-disguising-herself-as-a-boy theme.

I just read this book as a school project but now I have read it over and over. This is a great book about a girl named Buran who lives with her six sisters and her poor family in ancient Baghdad. Buran wants to help her family's money problems so she dresses up as a boy and joins a caravan across the Sahara to Tyre. There she sets up shop and soon she is making a good living. But soon she makes friends with the prince of the city. Buran secretly falls in love with him but she can't tell him that because the prince thinks that she is a he.

This book is an amazing book about a girl, Buran, who, wanting to help her family's income, goes to start a business in the city, disguised as a man... There she meets Mahmud, and finds herself falling in love with him. There are two sides to this book; one that tells how Buran feels and what is in her mind, and the other, who Muhmud feels. This book will capture your imagination and make you want ot read it again and again.