THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND: A WORLD WAR II STORY

THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND by Daniel Nayeri

GREEN LIGHT

AGES: 5TH - 8TH GRADE

This book is headed straight onto my SARAH'S FAVORITES BOOKLIST. Wow, I was not expecting to love this book as much as I did, but it was fantastic!

If you enjoy moving historical fiction, if you love WWII stories, if you are tired of the typical WWII stories but enjoy the revelation of unknown events, if you are interested in the relationship between Iran and the Jews, then this book is for you! The Teacher of Nomad Land is a story about the position Iran took during WWII and war orphans.

During the war, Iran found itself caught in the middle of the Allies and Axis powers because of its massive oil reserves. Hitler wanted the oil, and the Allies knew that if he got it, it had the potential to heavily influence the outcome of the war. So, the Shah chose to declare Iran as neutral. Britain still came in and gained control of the oil verifying that the Germans could not. In the process of Britain coming in, several Iranians died leaving behind orphans. That is where this story comes in. Babak and his younger sister, Sana are two of those orphans.

In order to survive, Babak and Sana attempt to join a nomad group. In order to do so, Babak must have a beneficial skill to bring to the group The only thing he has is his father was a teacher, so Babak offers his abilities to teach the nomadic children. What follows is a heart-wrenching journey of acceptance into the group and then rejection. Babak and Sana continue on the extremely difficult journey by themselves, and in the process meet a German soldier who is hunting down a Jewish boy. Babak and Sana end up finding the boy, and together they travel under immense danger and struggle.

I was absolutely hooked as I read this story, but I found myself asking how much of this was really true due to the relationship between Iran and the Jewish people today. I was very surprised to find out that Iran opened its borders to the Jews during WWII taking in refugees including 1000 predominately orphaned, Jewish children from Poland known as the Tehran Children. The majority of these refugees survived and later settled in Israel.

HEADS UP - While not gruesome, this book does deal with war themes including death.