Nasreddine
In this Middle Eastern folktale, a young boy named Nasreddine finds that, as he goes about his daily chores with his father, everything he does meets with someone’s disapproval. When he walks behind his father, who rides the donkey, he’s criticized for muddying his boots. When he next tries riding the donkey himself while his father trails behind, he’s criticized for disrespecting his elders. When he and his father pile on the donkey together, villagers criticize him for making the animal work too hard. The moral here is, of course, that you must be able to determine when someone is offering you genuine wisdom and when they are just blowing hot air. The themes of humiliation and trusting one’s own judgment are highly relevant to children, and the Middle Eastern setting serves not only to bring home a necessary message but also to make an unfamiliar culture accessible. Dautremer’s art captures a fully authentic Middle Eastern milieu, while the large, rounded heads and stick-thin limbs create a visual style reminiscent of many contemporary cartoons, which deepens the sense of invitation into a foreign world. Preschool-Grade 3. --Jesse Karp