
Orange and Blue: The World of Barzu
Tom Verde
Marina Abrams. Farrukh Negmatzade and Marina Abrams, ils.
Barzu World, 2018.
Barzu’s world is one of bell-shaped tanoor ovens and intricately decorated, freshly baked nan bread, of grandmother’s kitchen and apricots drying on rooftops in the sun and of legendary trading cities with sparkling blue domes and bazaars offering “everything your heart desired.” In this colorful, educational children’s book, Abrams, a native of Kazakhstan, summons these and other childhood memories, vividly brought to life by Tajik illustrator Farrukh Negmatzade. Barzu’s home, not specifically named, could be any rural area of Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan). Bicycling from kishlak (a word of Turkic origin meaning village) to neighboring kishlak, Barzu visits friends and relatives who share stories of local culture such as the apricot harvest, the generational craft of making clay tanoors and the region’s distinctive nan, the “Bread of Wonder.” Educators will appreciate an extensive section at the back of the book featuring historic, geographic and linguistic information.
You may also be interested in...
Zeina Abirached’s Art Uncovers Urgency of Wisdom in Gibran’s The Prophet
Kahlil Gibran’s 1923 classic is given new life, as Abirached’s graphic novel blends Lebanese artistry with the late author’s timeless wisdom.Editor Challenges Readers To Witness Islamic History Sans the Modern Lens In New Book
In 1516, Ottoman Sultan Selim I entered Damascus clean-shaven. What followed changed Arab-Turkish relations for 400 years.