One Thousand and One Arabian Nights is a classic of world literature. In it are stories within stories, within yet more stories. At times this gets a little confusing but mostly not. These stories are told by Shahrazad, the one thousand and first wife of broken hearted and bitter King Shahryar. To avoid being betrayed by a woman again (his first wife having been engaged in some kind of illicit relationship with a stable-boy behind the king's back) Shahryar marries a new wife each day and the next morning has each one executed. King Shahryar has trouble sleeping (probably due to the serious amount of blood on his hands) so Shahrazad offers to tell hime a story. King Shahryar is transfixed by her story telling, commands the executioner to come back the same time tomorrow morning, and has Shahrazad promise to finish telling the story that night. This she does, and through her extraordinary story telling skills they arrive at dawn and the king has business to attend to, so that Shahrazad's execution is put off for the following morning. The initial few pages depict a seriously sexist king in a unreconstructed era. The talk is of untrustworthy women and executions, however the fact that Shahrazad deals so effectively when she is trapped in such a seemingly powerless situation, shows that we cannot let the prose of the opening few pages cloud our judgement. This would deny children access to this wondrously inventive, life affirming, fantastic and ingenious story. Some stories will be familiar to children; those of Aladdin's adventures and the fisherman and the jinni. Some will be totally new. During my final placement there was mention of stories from other cultures. This was evident in a reader for literacy, as well as during multicultural day, and visible through displays around the school. Since a large proportion of the study body are Muslim, who are brought up with stories from the Islamic world the stories told in this book would not classified as from another culture but from the students' very own culture and religion. Yet whether they are classed as stories from another culture or stories from my culture the important thing is the quality of these stories, as just that: stories. A beautiful young woman faces death nightly, and survives. This is done with humour and grace, with cunning and a rich love of language; the later of course we all want our pupils to leave school with. There is a lot in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights of characters overcoming great misfortunes, difficulties and danger. Whether it be Shahrazad herself, the elderly fisherman in The Fisherman and The Bottle, Sinbad the Sailor or the jeweller in The Tale of Pearl-harvest. These characters succeed because of their quick wittedness, their resolve; sometimes due to good luck and the kindness of strangers, all of which should figure in stories we tell to our children, whether they are my students or members of our family. In the KS2 classroom is where I would use this book. It could be used simply as a class reader. With the large numbers of students from Muslim households it would be a great tool to promote literacy. Simply due to the power of the prose of this book to show the immense or limitless potential of language to create stories. Children would already be familiar with characters and stories from home. Reading this book would make connections with the local communities the children come from, by showing that the cultures of the local community are respected, valued and welcomed in the school. This book could be used in PSHE, to promote discussion of issues such as equal rights, sexism, honour killings and other forms of discrimination. The teaching of R.E could be aided by reading this book, as believers and unbelievers are regularly mentioned throughout the text, and this could be a starting point for brainstorming or discuss about various topics brought up by stories within the book. Overall I give this book 5 out of 5, as the translation is poetic yet grounded in everyday language, so that aromas are smelt, sights seen, blows are felt, and moments lived. Also teachers should never be put off by a story being on the surface to gruesome, and the children's imagination and thoughts will always be bloodier by far. We children no service by keeping them in the dark about anything, basically.
The initial few pages depict a seriously sexist king in a unreconstructed era. The talk is of untrustworthy women and executions, however the fact that Shahrazad deals so effectively when she is trapped in such a seemingly powerless situation, shows that we cannot let the prose of the opening few pages cloud our judgement. This would deny children access to this wondrously inventive, life affirming, fantastic and ingenious story.
Some stories will be familiar to children; those of Aladdin's adventures and the fisherman and the jinni. Some will be totally new. During my final placement there was mention of stories from other cultures. This was evident in a reader for literacy, as well as during multicultural day, and visible through displays around the school. Since a large proportion of the study body are Muslim, who are brought up with stories from the Islamic world the stories told in this book would not classified as from another culture but from the students' very own culture and religion. Yet whether they are classed as stories from another culture or stories from my culture the important thing is the quality of these stories, as just that: stories.
A beautiful young woman faces death nightly, and survives. This is done with humour and grace, with cunning and a rich love of language; the later of course we all want our pupils to leave school with.
There is a lot in One Thousand and One Arabian Nights of characters overcoming great misfortunes, difficulties and danger. Whether it be Shahrazad herself, the elderly fisherman in The Fisherman and The Bottle, Sinbad the Sailor or the jeweller in The Tale of Pearl-harvest. These characters succeed because of their quick wittedness, their resolve; sometimes due to good luck and the kindness of strangers, all of which should figure in stories we tell to our children, whether they are my students or members of our family.
In the KS2 classroom is where I would use this book. It could be used simply as a class reader. With the large numbers of students from Muslim households it would be a great tool to promote literacy. Simply due to the power of the prose of this book to show the immense or limitless potential of language to create stories.
Children would already be familiar with characters and stories from home. Reading this book would make connections with the local communities the children come from, by showing that the cultures of the local community are respected, valued and welcomed in the school.
This book could be used in PSHE, to promote discussion of issues such as equal rights, sexism, honour killings and other forms of discrimination. The teaching of R.E could be aided by reading this book, as believers and unbelievers are regularly mentioned throughout the text, and this could be a starting point for brainstorming or discuss about various topics brought up by stories within the book.
Overall I give this book 5 out of 5, as the translation is poetic yet grounded in everyday language, so that aromas are smelt, sights seen, blows are felt, and moments lived. Also teachers should never be put off by a story being on the surface to gruesome, and the children's imagination and thoughts will always be bloodier by far. We children no service by keeping them in the dark about anything, basically.