This book is about a boy who wants some knowledge. The master will not give him knowledge until he gets a carpet so the boy goes to all these different people who have their own needs and he thinks no one is listening to his needs. ( )

Ed Young uses multi-media and collage to create the most beautiful illustrations, it is no wonder he has been awarded three Caldecott awards. This is book is based on a Sufi tale. A young boy seeking wisdom is sent on a mission to get a carpet in exchange for the teaching of his master. He moves from one person to another trying to accomplish his talk. ( )

This story is about a boy who wants to gain knowledge from the village Grand Master. He asks the Master and the Master tells him that the boy needs to get him a carpet before he can help the boy. So the boy goes to the carpet maker and asks him to make him a carpet. But the carpet maker needed thread. So the boy went to get thread and so on. As the boy goes down the line he finds that everyone needs something and until he's able to provide it they won't provide it to him. So the boy at a loss goes for a walk to another village and comes to a marvelous discovery.
This book fits into folklore/legend genre as it is the story behind why a cultural saying is around.
I would read this to 2nd grade and older. It would be good to explain it more as it may be harder for some students to understand.

A young boy goes on a quest to find knowledge. However, he has to help many people before he can obtain knowledge. The moral of the story is knowledge comes to us when we least expect it. I can use this book to study the different types of clothes that people from other cultures wear. ( )

This book was a bit confusing to read, which I did not like. Eventually it got to a point where it was explaining a long list of things that different people need and I couldn't keep track of it all. I know that the story was building up to that final list, but everything was so complicated and the needs were different than what I would expect. For example, the main character goes to the goat keeper and asks for a goat. He says that he needs a pen to keep all of the goats and then he will give the main character a goat. I don't understand that part. If the goat keeper doesn't have a pen to keep all of the goats at the moment, where are the goats? The goats just ended up appearing later on.

I did like that a lot of the jobs were a bit more unique. Rather than huge manufacturers having needs, it was one person doing one of each of the jobs. For example, there was one merchant, one carpenter, one thread maker, one carpet maker, etc. There were others as well, but each of the working people worked by themselves. They were their own boss and did everything rather than bossing others around to do the work for them. It gave me a different perspective on what it is like to live in a small village. Tiny little shops or businesses are everywhere and no huge name brand places.

The book was slightly interesting and portrayed the main message very well. The message is that knowledge came come from within because the entire time the main character wanted knowledge. He set up this huge plan, found all of these people, gave them their needs, and then everything was figured out. He already had knowledge all along and didn't even know it. The other message is that you receive more when you give. Although it might not have been explained or portrayed as much in the story, but you receive this satisfaction when you give to others. Not only did the main character get what he wanted, but he also gave everyone else what they wanted or needed. ( )