Overview
A Sufi teaching tale of a boy without a name who visits a wise man and acquires both a name and a wonderful dream.A Sufi teaching tale of a boy without a name who visits a wise man and acquires both a name and a wonderful dream.
Synopsis
A Sufi teaching tale of a boy without a name who visits a wise man and acquires both a name and a wonderful dream.
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2-Ostensibly based on a Sufi legend, this story concerns a boy whose parents are instructed not to name him when he is born. A wise man tells them, "This is a very, very important boy-and I am going to give him something marvelous one day, but I will have to give him his name first." After some years, the youngster goes with his friend Anwar to see the wise man, with the hope that he can exchange an unwanted dream for a name. The wise man selects the name Husni out of a magic box and gives it to the boy, who then puts his unwanted dream in another box. Then the two friends each take a turn choosing from a third box, which is full of wonderful dreams. "And after that, forever and ever, Husni had a name-and the two boys-always had wonderful dreams." End of story. The point of this narrative is, at best, elusive. What is so important about the nameless boy? What are readers to make of the boxes of names and dreams? The lively and colorful artwork evokes the Middle Eastern setting, but doesn't help to answer these questions. Perhaps an extensive study of Sufism would enhance readers' understanding, but it is doubtful that this book on its own will make much sense to children or the adults who read it to them.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
School Library Journal
K-Gr 2-Ostensibly based on a Sufi legend, this story concerns a boy whose parents are instructed not to name him when he is born. A wise man tells them, "This is a very, very important boy-and I am going to give him something marvelous one day, but I will have to give him his name first." After some years, the youngster goes with his friend Anwar to see the wise man, with the hope that he can exchange an unwanted dream for a name. The wise man selects the name Husni out of a magic box and gives it to the boy, who then puts his unwanted dream in another box. Then the two friends each take a turn choosing from a third box, which is full of wonderful dreams. "And after that, forever and ever, Husni had a name-and the two boys-always had wonderful dreams." End of story. The point of this narrative is, at best, elusive. What is so important about the nameless boy? What are readers to make of the boxes of names and dreams? The lively and colorful artwork evokes the Middle Eastern setting, but doesn't help to answer these questions. Perhaps an extensive study of Sufism would enhance readers' understanding, but it is doubtful that this book on its own will make much sense to children or the adults who read it to them.-Miriam Lang Budin, Chappaqua Public Library, NY Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.Childrens Book Watch
In The Boy Without A Name, a young boy seeks and eventually finds his own name and is able to discard an old dream for a new and wonderful one. Highly recommended for personal, school and community library picturebook collections, The Boy Without A Name is an entertaining and thoughtful Sufi folktale which is wonderfully recounted by Idries Shah and marvelously illustrated with watercolor paintings by Mona Caron.—Childrens Book Watch