Overview

Fatima is a young woman whose life seems beset by one disaster after another. Setting forth on a journey from her home in the West, she is shipwrecked and cast ashore alone near Alexandria, Egypt. Adopted by a local family of weavers, and beginning to prosper in her new life, she is captured and forced to work making masts for ships. While undertaking a journey to sell the masts, she finds herself shipwrecked once again - this time off the coast of China, where she finally realizes that what seemed to be disasters were really essential steps toward her eventual fulfillment. Full of wisdom and depth, and ideal as a bedtime story, Fatima's tale helps children understand the need for perseverance to reach their goals. This traditional teaching story is well known in Greek folklore, but the present version is attributed to Sheikh Mohamed Jamaludin of Adrianople (modern-day Edirne in Turkey), who died in 1750. Fatima the Spinner and the Tent is filled with wonderful illustrations by Natasha Delmar, who was taught to paint by her father, the celebrated classic Chinese painter Ng Yi-Ching. Delmar captures Fatima's adventures with a wealth of detail and color and, using Middle Eastern and Chinese design, transports readers to the exotic lands of Fatima's travels in a way delightful to both young and old.

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9781942698074

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Reviews

Fatima The Spinner And The Tent is based on a classical Teaching-Story well known in Greek folklore - this particular version is attributed to Sheikh Mohamed Jamaludin of Adrianople (modern-day Edirne). Fatima the Spinner and the Tent is the tale of a woman who seems beset with one disaster after another as she travels from Morocco to the Mediterranean, Egypt, Turkey, and finally China. It is in China that she realizes the that what seemed to be terrible misfortune was in fact a valuable part of her life and her path to fulfillment, for in the course of her journey she learned the skills that would serve her well in her hour of greatest need. A story of wisdom and hidden depth, recommended for bedtime reading and children's library collections. -- Midwest Book Review When a shipwreck leaves her washed up on a beach, Fatima is taken in by a family of weavers. She learns their trade, only to be captured by slavers, who sell her to a mast-builder. Entrusted to accompany a cargo to market, the girl survives another shipwreck off the coast of China, where she is welcomed by townspeople as the female stranger of legend who would make a tent for the Emperor. She is delivered to the palace, where she uses her skills to complete the task by spinning flax into ropes; weaving some sturdy cloth; and carving tent poles, finally realizing her wish for happiness. The story fulfills the requisites of a folktale-a strong main character, three misfortunes, the completion of a seemingly impossible task, and the granting of a wish. Delmar's finely detailed paintings incorporate a variety of Middle Eastern and Chinese designs, both within the pictures and in borders surrounding text boxes. Several spreads are panoramas that have amazing depth. An endpaper map shows the path of Fatima's travels. Although some aspects of the plot are weaker than the protagonist's strength of character, children will relate to the positive lesson about making the best of one's misfortunes. -- School Library Journal Fatima The Spinner And The Tent is based on a classical Teaching-Story well known in Greek folklore - this particular version is attributed to Sheikh Mohamed Jamaludin of Adrianople (modern-day Edirne). Fatima the Spinner and the Tent is the tale of a woman who seems beset with one disaster after another as she travels from Morocco to the Mediterranean, Egypt, Turkey, and finally China. It is in China that she realizes the that what seemed to be terrible misfortune was in fact a valuable part of her life and her path to fulfillment, for in the course of her journey she learned the skills that would serve her well in her hour of greatest need. A story of wisdom and hidden depth, recommended for bedtime reading and children's library collections. -- Midwest Book Review When a shipwreck leaves her washed up on a beach, Fatima is taken in by a family of weavers. She learns their trade, only to be captured by slavers, who sell her to a mast-builder. Entrusted to accompany a cargo to market, the girl survives another shipwreck off the coast of China, where she is welcomed by townspeople as the female stranger of legend who would make a tent for the Emperor. She is delivered to the palace, where she uses her skills to complete the task by spinning flax into ropes; weaving some sturdy cloth; and carving tent poles, finally realizing her wish for happiness. The story fulfills the requisites of a folktale-a strong main character, three misfortunes, the completion of a seemingly impossible task, and the granting of a wish. Delmar's finely detailed paintings incorporate a variety of Middle Eastern and Chinese designs, both within the pictures and in borders surrounding text boxes. Several spreads are panoramas that have amazing depth. An endpaper map shows the path of Fatima's travels. Although some aspects of the plot are weaker than the protagonist's strength of character, children will relate to the positive lesson about making the best of one's misfortunes. -- School Library Journal

Fatima The Spinner And The Tent is based on a classical Teaching-Story well known in Greek folklore - this particular version is attributed to Sheikh Mohamed Jamaludin of Adrianople (modern-day Edirne). Fatima the Spinner and the Tent is the tale of a woman who seems beset with one disaster after another as she travels from Morocco to the Mediterranean, Egypt, Turkey, and finally China. It is in China that she realizes the that what seemed to be terrible misfortune was in fact a valuable part of her life and her path to fulfillment, for in the course of her journey she learned the skills that would serve her well in her hour of greatest need. A story of wisdom and hidden depth, recommended for bedtime reading and children's library collections. -- Midwest Book Review When a shipwreck leaves her washed up on a beach, Fatima is taken in by a family of weavers. She learns their trade, only to be captured by slavers, who sell her to a mast-builder. Entrusted to accompany a cargo to market, the girl survives another shipwreck off the coast of China, where she is welcomed by townspeople as the female stranger of legend who would make a tent for the Emperor. She is delivered to the palace, where she uses her skills to complete the task by spinning flax into ropes; weaving some sturdy cloth; and carving tent poles, finally realizing her wish for happiness. The story fulfills the requisites of a folktale-a strong main character, three misfortunes, the completion of a seemingly impossible task, and the granting of a wish. Delmar's finely detailed paintings incorporate a variety of Middle Eastern and Chinese designs, both within the pictures and in borders surrounding text boxes. Several spreads are panoramas that have amazing depth. An endpaper map shows the path of Fatima's travels. Although some aspects of the plot are weaker than the protagonist's strength of character, children will relate to the positive lesson about making the best of one's misfortunes. -- School Library Journal

"""... an excellent example of a 'Teaching-Story' used to promote critical thinking through the power of an entertaining tale."" - Foreword Reviews (U.S.) ""This fascinating tale will captivate young readers with its suspenseful plot. Older readers can make connections with their own lives and explore the deeper meanings of the concepts of misfortune, opportunity, and ultimate happiness."" - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Consultant and Director of Publications, National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.) ""If you are looking for a book for all ages that all can take something away from the reading, this just might be the book you are looking for. While aimed at children ... there is definitely more to it than that and even adults will find something to take away from the experience."" - Wisconsin (U.S.) Muslim Journal ""These teaching stories can be experienced on many levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them; an adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way. Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within."" - ""All Things Considered,"" National Public Radio (U.S.) ""They [teaching stories] suggest ways of looking at difficulties that can help children solve problems calmly while, at the same time, giving them fresh perspectives on these difficulties that help them develop their cognitive abilities"" - psychologist Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., in his lecture ""Teaching Stories and the Brain"" given at the U.S. Library of Congress ""Through repeated readings, these stories provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. Beautifully illustrated."" - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.) ""Shah's versatile and multilayered tales provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children."" - Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature ""These stories ... are not moralistic fables or parables, which aim to indoctrinate, nor are they written only to amuse. Rather, they are carefully designed to show effective ways of defining and responding to common life experiences."" - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.), writing in Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.) ""These enchanting stories Shah has collected have a richness and depth not often encountered in children's literature, and their effect on minds young and old can be almost magical."" - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.) ""Shah has collected hundreds of Sufi tales, many of which are teaching tales or instructional stories. In this tradition, the line between stories for children and those for adults is not as clear as it seems to be in Western cultures, and the lessons are important for all generations."" - School Library Journal (U.S.) ""... these are vibrant, engaging, universal stories...."" - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.) ""... a series of children's books that have captivated the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. The books are tales from a rich tradition of story telling from Central Asia and the Middle East. Stories told and retold to children, by campfire and candlelight, for more than a thousand years."" - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.)"

Author Information

Idries Shah spent much of his life collecting and publishing Sufi classical narratives and teaching stories from oral and written sources in the Middle East and Central Asia. The tales he retold especially for children are published by Hoopoe Books in beautifully illustrated editions and have been widely commended - by Western educators and psychologists, the U.S. Library of Congress, National Public Radio and other media - for their unique ability to foster social-emotional development, thinking skills and perception in children and adults alike. Told for centuries, these stories express universal themes from the cultures that produced them, showing how much we have in common and can learn from each other. As noted by reviewers, such stories are more than just entertaining; familiarity with them provokes flexibility of thought, since each one contains levels of meaning that unfold in accordance with an individual's experience and understanding.

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