β Scribed by Dokey, Cameron
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
A story inspired by the magical and romantic tale of Shahrazad from The Arabian Nights. When betrayed by his queen, Shahrayar's heart turns coldly to stone. He vows to take a new wife once each month, at the full moon, but to keep her only one night, killing her in the morning. Shahrazad, the 17-year-old blind daughter of the king's vizier and Maju, a blind storyteller, concocts a plan to reach the king's heart. She will begin a story each night that will not be finished in the morning. Three stories-within-a-story run through the retelling, all with parallel themes and morals. This is a delightful retelling, tweaked by the author to create a fresh, often quirky feminist who is not afraid to speak her mind. Indeed, the king remarks, with humor, that wise women people Shahrazad's stories, but the kings and princes are idiots. Dokey's style blends just the right amount of old-fashioned phrases and figurative language with touches of contemporary tongue-in-cheek humor. The author actually manages an element of suspense in the present-tense retelling, even though readers familiar with the tale will know its outcome. There's plenty to tantalize teens: tower imprisonments, decapitations, intrigues of the court, an attempted coup, riots, fighting, and, of course, the blossoming love between Shahrazad and Shahrayar. An appended note includes more about the tale and the author's retelling. Pair this title with Susan Fletcher's Shadow Spinner (Atheneum, 1998) for two different versions of the story of Shahrazad.
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