Author & Illustrators
The King with Dirty Feet is inspired by an Indian and Bangladeshi folktale called The King and the Cobbler. It is a story of the invention of shoes, designed for an Indian king who has a problem keeping his feet clean. It is a retelling; perfect to read aloud to young children and is accompanied by vibrant illustrations full of traditional colour and detail which transport us to another culture and the explanation of how the first shoes came to be.
The King has a problem – he smells! He hasn’t had a bath in a whole year and when the smell becomes too much for even himself, he decides to have a bath! But unfortunately, no matter how clean the rest of him is, his feet remain dirty. The King sets his servant Gabu the task of ridding the land of dirt and dust in three days. So Gabu begins to clean up the kingdom but that in itself causes problems. Firstly, the people sweep away all the dirt, but the air becomes filled with dust. Secondly, the dust gets washed away but the land is flooded with water. Finally, everyone works together to produce an enormous tapestry to cover the whole kingdom. However, one little old man points out, “There will be no grass or flowers. The animals will be hungry. There will be no fruit or vegetables to eat.” Thankfully, he has an answer. He takes a pair of scissors from his pocket and proceeds to make the first ever pair of shoes. The King can now walk anywhere and the grass will continue to grow.
The story is written with repetition and uses onomatopoeic words such as ‘Zut’ together with action verbs, bold font and capitalisation. These devices make this retelling a great book for oral story telling. It deserves to be read aloud! Children will love to follow the monkey character who appears throughout the book, helping Gabu with his tasks.
This book would be an excellent introduction to traditional tales in Key Stage 1.
The Phoenix of Persia is a modern retelling of one the stories from the Shahnameh, an epic poem by the 10th century Iranian poet, Ferdowsi. The book is published by Tiny Owl, who really has delivered a rich offering from acclaimed author and storyteller, Sally Pomme Clayton.
As the story unfolds, we hear of a king whose son is born with white hair and so is banished to the forest. The boy is saved by a phoenix or ‘Simorgh’ – a character that still enthrals us in tales from all parts of the world. The magical creature takes care of the baby, who grows up to be Prince Zal, the hero of many other stories in the Shahnameh. It’s a story of forgiveness and what it is to be truly wise, and it has echoes of folk stories and myths from other cultures passed down from generation to generation.
There are many things that make this book special. The sumptuous illustrations from award-winning illustrator Amin Hassanzadeh Sharif are a visual feast. At the front of this book is a QR code, which links to an audio retelling of the story, narrated by the author, with original music played on traditional Iranian instruments, each of which represent different characters within the story. Moreover, the book comes with a teacher resource book full of ideas for cross-curricular links.
This edition feels like a masterclass in the art of traditional storytelling and can be explored in so many ways, which children will love. This is definitely a book to treasure.
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Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Does the book contain anything that teachers would wish to know about before recommending in class (strong language, sensitive topics etc.)?
Would you recommend the book for use in primary schools?
yes
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Curriculum links (if relevant)
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