Brave with Beauty: A Story of Afghanistan

by Maxine Rose Schur, Patricia Dewitt-Grush (Illustrator), Robin DeWitt (Illustrator)

Overview

A 2020 Notable Social Studies Trade Book for Young People

This is the extraordinary story of Queen Goharshad, a 15th-century monarch, who many historians now believe was the one of the most powerful women in world history. Ruling from the Timurid artistic and cultural center of Herat in western Afghanistan, Queen Goharshad ushered in a remarkable period when poetry, music, calligraphy, painting, and the sciences flourished as never before. A poet and an architect, she designed some of the most beautiful structures ever built on earth.

This story is a celebration of a remarkable woman-talented, generous, benevolent, and brave-whose achievements are an inspiration for young readers to use their strengths to make the world a more beautiful place.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781949528961
Publisher:	Yali Books
Publication date:	10/01/2019
Pages:	46
Sales rank:	1,020,253
Product dimensions:	8.00(w) x 8.00(h) x 0.12(d)
Lexile:	810L (what's this?)
Age Range:	7 - 9 Years

About the Author

Maxine Rose Schur is an award-winning author of books for children. As the recipient of the Joan G. Sugarman Award given by the Washington Independent Writer's Legal and Educational Fund, Ms Schur was the Baker-Nord Guest Lecturer on Writing for Children to the Humanities faculty at Case Western Reserve University. More information about Maxine and her books can be found at www.maxineroseschur.com.

Patricia and Robin Dewitt are identical twin artists and art teachers specializing in Fine Art, Illustration, and Graphic Design. They both graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with degrees in Illustration, Robin graduating with a master's in Digital Design. Both artists have an extensive array of work experience, illustrating for publishers such as Stemmer House, Charles Bridge, Scholastic, Time Life, and many more. More information on them can be found at http: //www.dewittstudios.org.

Patricia and Robin Dewitt are identical twin artists and art teachers specializing in Fine Art, Illustration, and Graphic Design. They both graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art with degrees in Illustration, Robin graduating with a master's in Digital Design. Both artists have an extensive array of work experience, illustrating for publishers such as Stemmer House, Charles Bridge, Scholastic, Time Life, and many more. More information on them can be found at http: //www.dewittstudios.org.

Editorial Reviews

A pleasant, romanticized introduction to an impressive person, places, and time for young readers beginning to like stories about real people. - School Library Journal

Educational, inspirational, and highly recommended especially for school and public library nonfiction picturebook collections. - Midwest Book Review

From the Publisher

12/01/2019

Gr 2–4—"Seven centuries ago, when the great caravans journeyed to the edges of the world, there lived a girl who loved all things of beauty. Her name was Goharshad." So begins this fictionalized life story of a remarkable queen of a vast realm seldom described for today's children. As a girl, she loves to paint and proclaims to her war-playing brothers that she "will be brave with beauty." Goharshad is married at age 14 to King Shah Rukh and the tale goes on to sketch her artistic achievements. "First, Goharshad imagines filling the kingdom with music." Her summoning of musicians leads to visions and creation of a great beautiful garden. Then begin long years of work with court architect Qavam-al Din Shirazi on grand buildings—"a college for girls, a grand mosque for prayer, and a vast library brimming with books of science, religion, literature, and art." This small, text-heavy volume includes multiple softly colored scenes that aptly convey the opulent dress and decor of the time. Goharshad's aging and death are not the end of her story. Weather and war bring ruin to the marvelous building in the ensuing centuries, and Shur poses an elderly caretaker now digging up bright bits of "a place bold with ideas and brave with beauty." Shur's author's note identifies the featured capital city of Herat as now located in Afghanistan. Actual dates, a map of the enormous kingdom, or indications of the author's sources are not provided, but there's a glossary of the real names used in the story. VERDICT A pleasant, romantized introduction to an impressive person, places, and time for young readers beginning to like stories about real people.—Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

School Library Journal

2019-06-23
An illustrated profile of an ancient queen.

Seven hundred years ago, a 14-year-old girl named Goharshad married the powerful ruler Shah Rukh and became a queen. After moving to Herat, the stunning seat of her new husband's empire, Goharshad dreamed of transforming her kingdom into something even more beautiful than it already was. For the rest of her reign, Goharshad funded and oversaw artistic projects ranging from the creation of a mosque to the construction of a library and a college intended to include women and girls. Goharshad persisted despite doubts about her decisions, creating a legacy that lasted until war and time destroyed her most impressive creations. This text-heavy book walks an uncertain line between fiction and nonfiction: Many passages that are presented as facts feel rooted in speculation, such as the musings of an "old man" who gathers the jeweled tiles that are all that remains of a building the queen constructed in Herat. Since the author provides no historical sources, it is hard to say what genre this is meant to be. The unnecessarily flowery language—which is, equally unnecessarily, printed in a stylized typeface—and the highly embellished illustrations are troubling and exoticizing. Furthermore, the tragic tone of the final pages renders this story one of loss, leaving readers with a deficit perspective of a troubled region with a rich and vibrant past. A classroom guide on the publisher's website provides extension activities but no further documentation for the story itself.

An unsuccessful foray into Persian history and legend. (Picture book. 8-10)

Kirkus Reviews