A collection of four stories about life in Iran through stories that are passed on from generation to generation.

Learn all about Middle Eastern culture and how to use that literature in K-12 schools to promote understanding. • Use this one-stop resource for information on Middle Eastern culture and literature • Share this resource with classroom teachers to make your school more inclusive and culturally responsive • Chapters provide background information about the countries and peoples of the place, literature related to the region and to the major ethnic groups of the region, guidelines for selecting children's and young adult literature about the region, and strategies for incorporation This new resource includes an annotated bibliography of children's and young adult books with evaluations, reading/interest level, review sources, awards/prizes, and Accelerated Reader/Reading Counts availability.

Two women are caught up in revolutions thirty years apart, but it is a third woman—the woman that connects them—that carries the scars of loss that time has not healed. Weaving together the past and the present, two storylines tell the life of Omid, the daughter of one revolutionary and the mother of another. In December of 1978, seventeen-year-old Omid is forced to flee Iran on the eve of the Islamic Revolution. Her mother, a Tehran University professor and outspoken anti-government activist, is part of the political wave that is working to overthrow the Pahlavi regime. Omid’s arrival in America is difficult. She is isolated by language and culture. She is also determined that her time in this country will be temporary, but that idea is cut short when she soon discovers that her mother has become a fugitive, pursued by the newly formed Revolutionary Guard because of her political views. Fast forward thirty years. Omid is living in Connecticut, the mother of two teenage daughters. Since the death of her own mother, she has buried the anguish and suffering that once struck her down. Her life is suddenly upended, though, when her older daughter, Sayeh, on a short trip to Iran, is arrested by Iranian authorities on false charges. Then, while being transferred to the notorious Evin Prison, Sayeh and a female Iranian student escape their captors with the help of an unruly crowd. Omid’s Shadow explores two periods of crisis in a woman’s life: as a seventeen-year-old struggling to cope long distance with her mother’s situation…and thirty years later, as a mother agonizing over the news of her daughter’s arrest, escape, and subsequent political activities. As Sayeh joins the pre-election activities of young revolutionaries fighting for rights they’ve been denied for more than three decades on streets of Tehran, the same spirit begins to stir in Omid. Omid realizes that she is losing her daughter to the revolutionary fever that once consumed her mother…the fever that was very much a part of her own existence as a seventeen-year-old, protesting on the streets of Iran. As she struggles with her fears for Sayeh, she also realizes that she is beginning to find her true self. The person buried for decades beneath the weight of lost hope has begun to emerge. Laced with the literary wisdom of Iran’s great poets, the novel draws on and illuminates a Middle Eastern culture that continues to fascinate readers. Omid’s Shadow, although fiction, draws on many actual events that occurred on Tehran’s streets after the election in June of 2009. Like the great tragedies of literature—from Romeo and Juliet to A Doll’s House to Ragtime to The Kite Runner—Omid’s Shadow takes us from the public politics of the street fight to the private power of the human heart. Hichkass Hamekass, No one Everyone, is the name of every Iranian woman who ever chose to say ‘No!’ to humiliation, ‘No!’ to injustice. It is the name of every courageous soul that has raised her voice against oppression. Their fight for civil, institutional, and human rights continues on, as it has for decades, despite the blood being shed on the streets and in the prisons. Hichkass Hamekass is the pen name for our mothers, our daughters, and our friends who will not give up the fight for freedom. Azadi! From Publishers Weekly This timely political novel features three generations of Iranian women who dare to stand up to repressive regimes. Scenes alternate between a worried mother in Connecticut and her naïve daughter who becomes a passionate reform activist and hunted fugitive in Tehran. In Connecticut, Omi sees her marriage crumbling and regrets telling her daughter about the family's fate at the hands of the Khomeini government and her own past as a student activist. The importance of social media to populist reform and revolutionary movements is demonstrated convincingly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ If you found Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi or Reading Lolita in Tehran by Azar Nafisi or The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini enthralling, you’ll want to check out this heart wrenching tale of a mother whose long dormant spirit of rebellion is reawakened at great cost. For fans of Maryam Rostampour, Barbara Freethy, Maria Troutman, Lauren Groff, Jodi Picoult, Sarah Echavarre, Kristin Hannah, Barbara Davis, Luanne Rice, Laura Dave, Diane Chamberlain, Ann Patchett, Kate Hewitt, Şebnem İşigüzel. Keywords – well-researched fast-paced gripping emotional read, emotional exciting page-turner, twisty action, pulse-pounding thrillers, smart sophisticated fast-moving suspense, believable love story, satisfying and complex fiction, strong female heroines and intense male leads, international thriller, fierce women seeking justice, mind blowing thought provoking suspense, great summer read, wounded heroine, female leads, rebel women fiction, heart-pounding fast-paced action, desperation, acts of revenge, redemption and revenge, books to keep you up all night, common threat, shared enemy, chilling villains, suspense books to read, mental health issues, national security threat fiction, generational women novel, tragedy suspense, refugees Europe, Iran war novels, Iran family saga, stories based on true, Iran fiction, Iran immigrant women, womens international suspense, star crossed lovers romance, womens fiction sisters, women revolution novel.

In this jewel-like version of a classic story, popular folklorist Shirley Climo tells the tale of Settareh, the Persian Cinderella. Magic enables Settareh to outsmart two jealous stepsisters and win the heart of a prince. But where most Cinderella stories end, poor Sattareh's troubles are only beginning! The unexpected plot twists will enchant readers as they rediscover the familiar tale in the lush setting of long-ago Persia. Shirley Climo's authentic details bring the story to life, and Robert Florczak's stunning paintings echo the vibrant colors and motifs of an ancient land. 01-02 TX Bluebonnet Award Masterlist

While recent books have explored Arab and Turkish nationalism, the nuances of Iran have received scant book-length study—until now. Capturing the significant changes in approach that have shaped this specialization, Rethinking Iranian Nationalism and Modernity shares innovative research and charts new areas of analysis from an array of scholars in the field. Delving into a wide range of theoretical and conceptual perspectives, the essays—all previously unpublished—encompass social history, literary theory, postcolonial studies, and comparative analysis to address such topics as: Ethnicity in the Islamic Republic of Iran Political Islam and religious nationalism The evolution of U.S.-Iranian relations before and after the Cold War Comparing Islamic and secular nationalism(s) in Egypt and Iran The German counterrevolution and its influence on Iranian political alliances The effects of Israel's image as a Euro-American space Sufism Geocultural concepts in Azar's Atashkadeh Interdisciplinary in essence, the essays also draw from sociology, gender studies, and art and architecture. Posing compelling questions while challenging the conventional historiographical traditions, the authors (many of whom represent a new generation of Iranian studies scholars) give voice to a research approach that embraces the modern era's complexity while emphasizing Iranian nationalism's contested, multifaceted, and continuously transformative possibilities.