Nasreddine

Title: Nasreddine

Author: Odile Weulersse

Illustrator: Rebecca Dautremer

Publisher:  Eerdmans Books for Young Readers

ISBN:  9780802854162

Audience:  Ages 4-9

Summary:  When Mustafa needs to take a load of dates to the market, his young son Nasreddine willingly agrees to help.  Together they tie the load on the donkey, Mustafa climbs on, and Nasreddine follows along behind.  A grand vizier they meet along the road makes fun of a man who would be lazy enough to ride while his son walks, and young Nasreddine is full of shame.  The next week the little boy schemes to ride the donkey when they take wool to the weavers, but a new set of critics passes judgment on children who do not respect their elders.  Trip after trip finds Nasreddine responding to those who criticize him and his father: father and son ride the donkey with a huge basket full of chickens, both of them run behind the donkey loaded with watermelons, and, eventually, Nasreddine proposes that they carry the donkey to avoid censure. The usually calm Mustafa finally puts his foot down and helps his son decide the wisest course.

Literary elements at work in the story:  An historical note at the back of the book tells us that Nasreddine stories are told throughout the Middle East.  This book has the flavor of a folk tale, with its simple, plot-driven narrative and archetypal characters.  Dautremer’s lovely illustrations help flesh out the personalities of the patient, gentle father and the embarrassed, insecure son.

How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story?  The story is set in an unnamed Middle Eastern village at an indeterminate time.  While the two main characters, Nasreddine and Mustafa, are male, secondary characters are old and young, male and female, rich and not-so-rich.  The main perspective here centers on the insecurity of a child contrasted with the wisdom of his parent.  Rather than skewering Nasreddine’s lack of confidence, however, Mustafa patiently allows his son to accumulate enough experience to be able to make a wise choice on his own.

Theological Conversation Partners:  This story would work well with the scriptural references to persecution (e.g., John 15:19-21; 2 Corinthians 12:10; and the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:10-12).  Nasreddine is wounded to the quick each time someone disapproves of him, while Mustafa serves as a calm deflector of criticism.  Nasreddine would also do well to remember Paul’s admonition to the Romans (12:2) “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”  Finally, Nasreddine might serve as a good way of talking about how God walks with us (just as Mustafa walked with Nasreddine) no matter how many mistakes we make, guiding us, protecting us, and giving us behavioral models to help us grow into wisdom.

Faith Talk Questions:

1. Why do you think that people criticized Nasreddine in this story?
2. How did their criticism make Nasreddine feel?
3. If you have ever been criticized for something you did, how did you feel about it?
4. Talk about a time when you did something you knew was right, even though other people made fun of you.
5. What do you think that Nasreddine will do the next time he and Mustafa have to take something to market?

This review was written by Union Presbyterian Seminary graduate Beth Lyon-Suhring.

The Listening Walk

Name of Book:  The Listening Walk

Author:  Paul Showers

Illustrator:  Aliki

Publisher:  Harper Collins

Audience:  Ages 3 – 7

Summary:This is the story of a little girl who, while walking quietly with her father down city streets, a forest trail, a park path, and all around, encounters sounds—whrrring cars, bomping balls, prrroooing pigeons, bzzzing bees, waaaing babies.

Literary Elements at Work:  This story is told from the perspective of a little girl, a little girl basking in the company of her father’s time and care, and in the glorious sense of sound!  Using inventive spelling and “word” placement, Paul Showers helps the listener to hear the pigeon’s call, prrroooing; a baby’s cry, waaaing and many, many more glorious sounds.  The tale is ushered along by the artistry of Aliki, who has been illustrating children’s literature since 1960!  Aliki assists the listener in the journey of walking and listening by means of bright, vivid color and simple lines.

Scripture:

Psalm 150:6 “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!  Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.”  Psalm 98  The psalmist tells us to sing to the LORD, and that all the earth sings songs of praise right along with us—the sea roars, the floods clap their hands, and the hills sing for joy!  Isaiah 55:12  The prophet Isaiah echoes the psalmist by telling us that the mountains and hills break into singing and all the trees of the field clap their hands.

Theology:  In the beginning, God so loved the world that God gave to it us; AND, God so loved us that God gave to us the world.

God has created mountains to sing, seas to roar, floods to clap and hills to break forth into singing.  In addition, in an amazing act of extravagance God has given us to the mountains, and seas, and hills, and trees to plant and feed and tend.  Praise God!

Additionally, God has created us, redeemed us, called us out by name, and numbered the hairs on our head.  God has promised to be our God and the God of our descendants.  In addition, in an amazing act of extravagance God has given to us zebras and gnats, peaches and chocolate, oceans and deserts, magnolias and clover, crickets and alligators.

Faith Talk Questions:

Sit beside your child, let her hold the book and turn the pages.  Ask her to tell you what she hears on the first page, as she describes what she hears, point to the objects “making the sound;” read the first page following the words with your fingers; let her follow the words with her finger.  (Cup her hand in yours and follow along together.)  Repeat this process on each page.   Talk about all the sounds you “hear” in the story.  Are they soft or loud, pleasant or harsh, scary or happy?  Try making the different sounds together.  Try drawing the different sounds.  Make a “listening journal.”  Go outside and take a listening walk, noting or drawing all the different sounds you hear in your “listening journal.”  As you walk around outside, consider using all of your senses—look at the colors, listen to the birds and insects, taste and smell the fragrances, feel the warmth of the summer sun or the cool of the fall breeze or the cold of the winter air.  Talk about all the ways creation sings, hums, calls, clicks, scratches, etc. its prayers of praise to God.  Write, color, paint, paste and glue your prayers of praise.

Review prepared by Union Presbyterian Seminary alumna Kim Lee