This is a longer children's book, but definitely worth the read! It approaches a lifestyle different from my own, that intrigues the reader without making the characters seem savage or dull. It contains many great lessons and contains and ending that I did not expect!
Writing prompt: What kind of animals have you trained before? What worked well? What went wrong? ( )

I really enjoyed Clever Ali, despite the fact I thought I wouldn't. The Egyptian encompasses Ali, and the rise and solution of his predicament created by ignoring his father. From a cultural aspect, the book paints a picture of the life of a young boy at that time in Egypt. The book has a lot of text, but is accompanied by pictures. These pictures helped clarify the readings, making it a good book for students. I also love how the demon dragon who lives in the ground where the Emperor sends people to is not the villain he was depicted as in the end. He doesn't like men flung into his cave very much and is happy to help them once he learns what is happening. The message of the story is too listen to your elders, but also to not presume a character bad because of the type of creature he is. These lessons can transfer into everyday life. The pictures are watercolor and beautiful. Overall, this book was a fun read. ( )

I loved Clever Ali! The story is interesting and engaging. I didn't really know what to expect and there were twists to the story I certainly didn't foresee. The illustrations are beautiful and reminded me very much of what remains of old Cairo. The author seems to rely somewhat on western or Orientalist stereotypes in some regards. For example the fact that she gives Ali's father 2 wives which plays into so many stereotypes about Muslim men. But at the same time even though he has two wives the author makes the family out to be normal in every regard and very loving and close. The family has a slave as is stereotypical but they treat their slave well and it seems from the story that he is almost like a member of the family. Although the story is about Muslim characters there are several minor details that were seemingly inconsistent with the typical behaviors of Muslims but the overall picture was a favorable representation. The Sultan of course is represented as is stereotypical Sultan who is greedy and selfish with no regard for his citizens. This story is supposedly based on real events but the book it referenced as inspiration wasn't something I could locate at all for comparison. I did find a similar story referenced elsewhere but is much different than this story as presented in Clever Ali. In that story there is no oubliette, the sultan is not evil he just wants cherries so badly he is willing to make an expedition out of his way all the way to Syria under the guise of political visits when he really only wants to eat the fresh cherries. His visir is the one who comes up with the idea to send pigeons to fetch cherries and bring them back so that the sultan will call off this trip which would really just inconvenience everyone. As a story Farmer's is far more entertaining though. I also liked the surprise that the demon was actually kind. I thought this part fits in quite well with the Islamic concept of the Djinn who like humans have free will and therefore some are good and some are bad. Overall, my children all really liked this story (at the time ages 8, 7, and almost 3) and really liked the illustrations as well. It's likened to being from the Arabian Nights but I think that's a bit of a stretch. The story lacks the complexity and interwoven story-in-a-story model which is characteristic of the Arabian Nights tales. However, it certainly has the same type of wide appeal as other Middle Eastern-Arabian Night-esque stories. ( )

This is about a boy who lives in Egypt. He turns 7 and is on his way to becoming a man. His father then takes him to the palace to learn about pigeons. The boy trains his bird, but the bird is selfish. The bird steals the sultan's cherries and the boy tries to fool the sultan after trying to get him more cherries. The boy is forced down a hole in the sultan's floor where a demon lives at the bottom. The demon helps the boy and others out of the whole, but he takes the sultan.

This story shows the culture of those who have lived in Egypt. It may not be exactly how people live today, but it gives children an idea of how Egyptians live.

As an extension to reading this book, you could have the children finish the story of what happens to the sultan after he is taken by the demon by doing a writing assignment. You could also have the children act out what they think happened to the sultan in the story.

This story was based off history when the king had ordered a man to gather his 600 cherries and the man did so by bird. This story varied a little in that the bird keepers boy sent out the pigeons and gathered cherries. the king was sent down to the demon and the bird keeper ruled.

This had good oral messages for kids. ( )