About the Author

Idries Shah spent much of his life collecting and publishing Sufi classical narratives and teaching stories from oral and written sources in the Middle East and Central Asia. The tales he retold especially for children are published by Hoopoe Books in beautifully illustrated editions and have been widely commended - by Western educators and psychologists, the U.S. Library of Congress, National Public Radio and other media - for their unique ability to foster social-emotional development, thinking skills and perception in children and adults alike. Told for centuries, these stories express universal themes from the cultures that produced them, showing how much we have in common and can learn from each other. As noted by reviewers, such stories are more than just entertaining; familiarity with them provokes flexibility of thought, since each one contains levels of meaning that unfold in accordance with an individual's experience and understanding.

Reviews

Selected by the Michigan Department of Education (U.S.) as part of its statewide R.E.A.D.Y. (Read, Educate and Develop Youth) program designed to make sure children have the necessary prereading skills (language, vocabulary, alphabet) by the time they enter school.
"Children enjoy hearing this story many times, amused at what they recognize to be the lion's lack of objectivity and his unreasonable fear. With each rereading, the lion's predicament and his reaction to it become more familiar ... [which] provides a base on which the child can come to understand egocentricity and irrationality at successive depths later in life." - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education; Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.)
"This memorable tale, which is known to almost every Afghan, can teach children and adults valuable lessons about fear that unfold gradually, as one is ready for them. ... Rodriguez's illustrations are expansive, jovial, and colorful." - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.)
"A delightful tale from an oral tradition many centuries old, illustrated with warmth, humor and the detail that children love. A thirsty lion, afraid of his own reflection in a pool of water, overcomes his fear while his jungle friends look on." - Great Lakes (U.S.) Booksellers Association
"My child has been struggling with anxious feelings at bedtime. After the school assembly [where the story The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water had been shared], we practiced a calming breathing technique we'd learnt, and then retold The Lion Who Saw Himself in Water together. I was surprised and relieved when he went to sleep easily for the first time in ages." - Recounted by a mother in Ipswich, U.K., to Ezra Hewing, Head of Education at the mental-health charity Suffolk Mind
"These teaching stories can be experienced on many levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them; an adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way. Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within." - "All Things Considered," National Public Radio (U.S.)
"They [teaching stories] suggest ways of looking at difficulties that can help children solve problems calmly while, at the same time, giving them fresh perspectives on these difficulties that help them develop their cognitive abilities" - psychologist Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., in his lecture "Teaching Stories and the Brain" given at the U.S. Library of Congress
"Through repeated readings, these stories provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. Beautifully illustrated." - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.)
"Shah's versatile and multilayered tales provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children." - Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature
"These stories ... are not moralistic fables or parables, which aim to indoctrinate, nor are they written only to amuse. Rather, they are carefully designed to show effective ways of defining and responding to common life experiences." - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.), writing in Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.)