Milad: The Voyage to Ophir

by Nazam Anhar

An enthralling work of fiction for children aged 9-13, Milad is a perfect text for use in classrooms and at home. The ancient phoenician setting of The Voyage to Ophir makes it ideal for embedding History, Science and Geography into your literacy lessons, and thereby enabling first-class cross curricular teaching. A plot summary of the book is as follows: 'Milad has always dreamed of the thrilling life of a sailor, but his first voyage brings more excitement than he ever imagined. He joins a fleet of Phoenician mariners in the service of King Solomon on an expedition to Ophir, deep in Africa. But before they reach their desitination, the fleet is attacked by the notorious pirate Kallabos.'

279 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2008

Reviews

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Don't believe the previous review, which is all about politics, not the quality of the book. As a primary school teacher, I have set this book for my class - they thoroughly enjoyed it and were motivated to find out about the real history behind the story.

[Marcy · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is one of the worst novels I've ever read and also one of the most ahistorical ones. I would never have read this book normally, but someone sent it to see if my school would adopt it. I knew it would be awful from the fist page, I must say. It begins with a map, which normally I love, but this map is where the novel gets rooted in ahistorical myth making. On this map of Eastern Africa and the region that would later become the Ottoman Empire, Lebanon is marked as "Phoenicia" and Palestine as "Israel." Now, granted this novel takes place long before nation states were formed, however during the time of this novel all of Greater Syria, especially the coastal areas the novel is concerned with, would have been known as Cana'an and the people would be Cana'anite, not Phoenician. Phoenician is merely a word that comes from the Greek word phoiniké that refers to Cana'anite people. It is deeply problematic to insist on using a foreign word to describe indigenous people, especially given that this book is written for young readers. Israel as an entity did not exist until 1948, although Israelite, the biblical termrefers to the tribes descended from Jacob, but this misusage conflates the two. The novel also begins with an epigraph from the Bible which is a misquote (I checked in "The New Oxford Annotated Bible"). In the novel the epigraph reads, "And King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Eziongeber, on the shore of the Red Sea. King Hiram sent in the fleet of his servants, Phoenician sailors with knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. They sailed to Ophir, and brought back gold, juniper wood and precious stones" (1 Kings, 9:26, 10:11). The Bible actually reads: "King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom. Hiram sent his servans with the fleet, sailors who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. They went to Ophir, and imported there four hundred twenty talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon." The novel narrates this period as if it were in fact a kingdom when archaeological evidence has never revealed evidence of such vast kingdoms. Instead, Solomon merely represented a tribal community, not a regional power. These and a host of other misrepresentations make the novel a quite infuriating read and most young people will likely not be able to discern these distinctions.

[Trisha Schulties · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a work of fiction meaning it is not rooted in accurate historical telling. It is not supposed to be accurate. However there is downside is that other then the main character, other characters don’t receive a proper character development. The antagonist serves only to be a one dimensional villain who is set in being evil. That being said, the story is still a fun and easy read for younger readers that will make them want to turn the page. It also has a good moral to the story about overcoming challenges.