Making her U.S. debut, Iranian-born illustrator Rashin Kheiriyeh takes a tale by Rumi about freedom and makes it entirely her own.
The glorious patterns on the clothes of Rashin's characters, the furniture, floors, walls and vessels immediately transplant readers to an exotic land. "Once upon a time, in Persia, there was a merchant who traveled the world for his business," the book begins. The merchant, with a kind face, wears a stately hat, a vest in ruby red and a jet-black coat with a pattern in gold that resembles bird tracks. A green parrot, given to the merchant by a friend in India, is his most prized possession ("He loved the pretty bird with all his heart"), and he places it in a golden cage. But the parrot looks miserable. When the merchant plans a trip back to India and asks the parrot what gift to bring back, the parrot asks the man to deliver a message to his winged friend ("Tell him that I would love to see him, but I can't because I live in a cage"). Green drapes surround the man and his pet, depicting birds in flight with wings outspread. In India, the merchant spies his parrot's friend and delivers the message in his pet's exact words. The winged friend's response gives the merchant's parrot just what he needs.
Rashin's artwork, steeped in the colors of the Iranian flag, play out motifs of captivity and freedom in the patterns on the grass and the wild red birds outside the parrot's window. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness