Ann Redisch StamplerBesprekingen

Playful illustrations lend a carefree feeling to this classic Afghani and Jewish tale of a Muslim shah who, both curious and respectful, initiates a sequence of challenges to a poor Jewish shoemaker who conquers each challenge through faith and cleverness.

One night, the Shah decides to go out disguised as a servant to check on the state of his subjects. Wandering around Kabul he come upon the household of a poor cobbler and his wife celebrating Shabbat with a modest meal. When the Shah asks the poor tradesman why he and his wife are so content, the response he discovers is that it’s the man’s faith that God will always provide. “If one path is blocked, God leads me to another, and everything turns out just as it should,” replies the Jew. Impressed by his faith, but curious about its strength, the Shah decides to test the shoemaker.

In the author’s note Stampler says that she chose this Jewish Afghani version of the folktale to adapt because of the respect that the two central character have for each other despite their different religions and stations in life. The benevolent smiles that Liddiment expresses in her cheerful illustrations harmonize beautifully with the author’s sentiment.

This is an inspiring folklore which emphasizes faith, and never giving up. Similar to the story of Aladdin, we get to see the royal Shah escape out of curiosity.

The theme of this book is kindness, respect, religion, different point of views/perspectives.

This story talks about a good man that no matter what he was always happy. The Sha of the town noticed it and wanted to test his faith, and believes. The Sha gave him several obstacles that the good man without knowing passed them all. The Sha really liked his attitude so he brought him to the castle so he could serve him as his main adviser.

Some kinda chicken hijinx in the shtetl, you know.

Enjoyed reading this Folktale that teaches that you need to have a faith and believe in it.

Meh. It had an intriguing plot line, but...it just didn't appeal to me. But I still encourage fans of thriller/suspense novels to give it a try!

Used for a discussion post, loved this story and the use of color/historical influence on the story line and illustrations.

Both Nicolette Holland and Jack Manx have serious parental baggage in form of family crime connections. Her mom died not long after marrying her stepdad who has treated her like a real daughter. Now sixteen, she's popular and a good student at her Ohio high school. Jack is also an honor student at a private school in Nevada. His father is dead and his mom is an environmental lawyer. His father was pretty abusive before he was killed by other gangsters. Don, Jack's older brother, is in prison and is as unlikable as Jack is popular and well liked.
Neither teen is aware of the other until Nicolette sees something happen in the woods by her house one night and has to flee for her life. When Jack is forced into going after her after being threatened by his brother, it's the beginning of an impossible to ignore chase, one that starts with Jack tracking her down, then forming an edgy coexistence, all leading to a slam-bang ending with a really crafty twist.
Yes, there's strong language, a sex scene (well done methinks) and violence, but when you're fearful for your life what else would one expect. This is a very well-crafted story with lots of tension and very appealing main characters and will be a good addition for public libraries.

When faced with conflict, one chooses how to respond. This response can either add hostility or find a resolution. After moving from the noisy city, Dog was happy to have found peace and quiet. Unfortunately, three mischievous cats had no intention of giving him peace or quiet in his new home. Although he was angry, he had an idea to get them to stop. The very clever dog was eventually able to get the cats to willingly leave him and his new home in the peace and quiet he had longed for.½

This tales tells the story of the shah and the a poor shoe repair man in Afghanistan. The shah decides to explore the world outside of his lavish home and finds a poor man and woman living happily. Although they are poor, they share willingly with the disguised shah. The shah wants to test the poor man's faith so he bans shoe repairing. The poor man finds another job as a water carrier. The shah then bans water carrying so the poor man becomes a wood cutter. The shah declares that all woodcutter will become members of the royal guard. The poor man will not be paid until the end of the month, so in order to eat, he sells the iron sword he has been given for work and makes a wooden sword instead. The nest day the poor man is forced to execute a man, but calls upon God to give him a sign that the man should not be executed. When he pulls out his wooden sword everyone is in awe. The shah is impressed by the poor man's faith and asks him to be his assistant.

In this Jewish retelling of a folktale, readers are treated to the story of a poor Jewish shoemaker who continues to pray and demonstrate optimism, in spite of the daily challenges he faces, from losing his livelihood to having little food to eat at night. Yet through it all, he continues to be optimistic and to share his faith with his visitor. The visitor is an Afghani shah, dressed in the clothes of his servant, but the Jewish shoemaker does not do this. Throughout the story we learn of faith and optimism, and how we each have something to offer one another, regardless of our station in life.

The author explains in an afterword that the traditional moral of this Rabbi Nachman story is that a teacher must approach a student at the student's level if he wants to raise him up. Ms. Stampler then explains how she has changed the point of story to be about teaching and learning kindness. In this version, the wise man coaxes the prince, who has been spoiled so much that he chooses to say "Enough" and give up clothing and regular food and speech, to suggest that they put on clothes and eat normal food. And, as in many fairy tales, first doctors and magicians try unsuccessfully to cure the prince.

This book is very touching I think children will absorb a lot from reading it. It is a good reminder that our faith is important. Culture is valuable and we should always stay true to our beliefs, even when that is being tested.

This story tells of a poor man whose faith was tested when he has many obstacles put in his path. The shoemaker is pushed to his limits after his shoemaking career is stopped and then his ability to get wood and water. The shoemaker eventually has to sell his silver sword for a wooden sword so that he can provide food for his wife. Luckily, the shoemaker comes up with a plan before having to execute a thief.

B This was a cute book and most children would love it. It referenced God, belief, and faith so it probably shouldn't be a book in a public classroom.

Summary: Ben Yehuda Street is a street filled with cats in Tel Aviv. Katzie and Gatito live with Mrs. Spiegel who lives in an apartment next to The Tel Aviv Fish Palace , which is owned by Mr. Modiano. Unfortunately, he does not like cats but brings Mrs. Spiegel the rotten fish he has left over at the end of the day to feed to her cats. She always invites him in for tea but he always refuses. One day Mrs. Spiegel cannot find her cats and is in a panic. Mr. Modiano searches all night and finds them, in an effort to thank him she invites him for tea again but he declines. Instead, he asks if he could make her a cup of tea.

Personal connection: This book helps my inquiry project by showing that while this book does not have a lot to do with the country of Israel, it is a nice book that depicts the many cats that live on the streets there. Also, it is a tale of friendship and helping a neighbor, which is something that Israelis believe heavily in.

Class use: Have students talk about an unlikely friendship they had formed and what it taught them.

This wonderful book presents children with a new interpretation of a classic Jewish folktale. A shoemaker and his wife are quite happy with their lives. They share their food with the Shah. The shah puts the shoemaker to a test his faith. A wonderful book to talk about different cultures.

Wonderful story of Folktale Afghanistan culture. It is full of great teaching of faith and wisdom. Beautiful story for all ages

I found this story very interesting. I had never heard a folktale from Afghanistan before. The message was a good one about optimism and being content and generous. The author herself is not from Afghanistan, however she includes as afterward about her research into making sure the story and artwork were as authentic to the culture as possible.

This apparently classic tale of a powerful man testing the faith of the poor is well done with rich illustrations and simple dialogue for children to follow. With the shoemaker facing each obstacle with a positive approach their are lessons to be taught to young children.

One night in Kabul, the good shah can't sleep, so he decides to explore his domain in order to discover what kind of people lived there. He happens upon a poor shoemaker and his wife, surprised at how happy they are. After learning that the shoemaker's faith keeps him so happy and optimistic, the shah curiously tests the shoemaker to see how strong his faith is. He secretly orchestrates a series of events in which the shoemaker's livelihood is greatly diminished, but through it all, he has faith that things will work out as they should. In a final test, facing a life or death decision, the shoemaker again shows his true character as a wise and humble man. The shah finally reveals himself and takes on the wise shoemaker as his royal adviser.

The intensity and tension in this book is incredible. It's a breathless read that nevertheless feels startlingly real as you rush through the pages. Don't start reading this late at night, because you won't be getting a lot of sleep. Every time I started to put the book down, I ended up picking it back up again. And I'm still thinking about the characters days later. My favorite kind of read!

Full review on Reader's Dialogue: http://readersdialogue.blogspot.com/2014/01/afterparty.html

I already knew that I love Ann Redisch Stampler's style from her book Where It Began. With Afterparty, the narrator's voice, Emma's voice, is so clear and so sharp. In fact, that sharpness becomes so important in the pivotal scene where Emma is drunk and high and who knows what else, and her voice actually loses some of that sharpness. To me, it highlighted the way that even as Emma categorized herself as "Bad Emma" throughout the book, she didn't even realize how not-bad she was being. Yes, she was sneaking out and disobeying her father, she was going to wild parties (kinda), she had a (gasp!) boyfriend, she lied and lied and lied - but those asides from her "conscience" and "compass" telling her that everything she was doing was so bad, all ignored the way she barely did anything really wrong or bad. Every time she sets out to do something crazy, she either backs out or does a modified version of it. That loss of sharpness is so jarring precisely because she hasn't been in a position to lose it throughout the whole book up until that point. She thinks she's wild, but if you count up and catalog her infractions, she's not that bad.

Of course, that's the point. She is no judge of what's beyond normal, what's crazy sh*t and what's only requiring secrecy because of her overprotective father. Now her father is brilliantly portrayed. He's not evil, she doesn't hate him. Actually, their relationship is pretty good and I'm kinda in love with their conversations toward the end of the book. But because she hasn't had normal experiences growing up, because she felt she had something to prove because of who her mother was, she has a totally skewed idea of normal. So first of all, when any casual observer could see that Siobhan is over the top out of control, Emma doesn't know the difference and thinks this is just normal teenager behavior. And then there's the voice telling her she's bad bad bad, which I know from experience does nothing to make you a better person and actually usually does the opposite.

All the relationships in the book, with the partial exception of Emma's father, are craaaazy. It seems like no one knows what normal even looks like. Siobhan's family, Dylan's family, Dylan himself - I'm sorry, I do like Dylan, but he is just as messed up as Siobhan and Emma in his own way. He's dark and mysterious, he seems to be holding it together, mature and aloof - and when his own crap blows up, he falls to pieces and makes every wrong decision he possibly could. It doesn't help any of this that just about every teenager is lying to at least one person about one thing at any given point.

Basically, this tells the story of repression, bad judgement, damaging friendships, and the true meaning of loyalty and trust. In a non-preachy, thoroughly enjoyable way. A great great book.