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Book Cover for: The Spoiled Boy with the Terribly Dry Throat / Der verwöhnte Junge mit der schrecklich trockenen Kehle: Bilingual English-German Edition / Zweisprachi, Idries Shah

The Spoiled Boy with the Terribly Dry Throat / Der verwöhnte Junge mit der schrecklich trockenen Kehle: Bilingual English-German Edition / Zweisprachi

Idries Shah

(Bilingual English-German edition) When a little boy wakes up with a dry throat, those around him run about trying to work out what caused the condition. One by one, servants, doctors, and medical students try remedies that only complicate the situation and make the condition worse, ignoring what readers will see as the obvious solution. This is one of a series of illustrated books for the young written by the Afghan philosopher and educator Idries Shah, whose collections of narratives and teaching stories have captivated the hearts and minds of people from all walks of life. It belongs to a rich storytelling tradition from Afghanistan, Central Asia and the Middle East that is more than 1,000 years old. Teaching stories are designed specifically to foster thinking skills and perception. They suggest in their structure and in the movement of their characters ways of looking at difficulties that can help solve them. This story illustrates in a very humorous way just how foolish people can be when they fail to consider a situation before springing into action.


(Zweisprachige Ausgabe Englisch-Deutsch) Als ein kleiner Junge mit einer trockenen Kehle aufwacht, laufen die Leute wild um ihn herum, um herauszufinden, wie es dazu kommen konnte. Einer nach dem anderen, Diener, Ärzte und Medizinstudenten, versuchen es mit Arzneien, die die Situation verschärfen und den Zustand nur verschlimmern, und ignorieren dabei, was der Leser als die naheliegende Lösung erkennen wird. Dies ist eines aus einer Serie illustrierter Kinderbücher des afghanischen Philosophen und Lehrers Idries Shah, dessen Sammlung von Erzählungen und Lehrgeschichten die Herzen und Gemüter aus allen Lebensbereichen in ihren Bann gezogen haben. Es gehört in die reiche Geschichtenerzähler-Tradition Afghanistans, Zentralasiens und des Mittleren Ostens, die über 1000 Jahre alt ist. Diese Geschichte zeigt auf eine sehr humorvolle Weise, wie töricht die Leute sein können, wenn sie eine Situation nicht erst überdenken, bevor sie zur Tat schreiten.

Book Details

  • Publisher: Hoopoe Books
  • Publish Date: Nov 14th, 2023
  • Pages: 42
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 8.50in - 11.00in - 0.11in - 0.35lb
  • EAN: 9781959393306
  • Recommended age: 06-10
  • Categories: Fairy Tales & Folklore - Country & CulturalDiversity & MulticulturalSocial Themes - Values & Virtues

About the Author

Shah, Idries: - "Idries Shah spent much of his life collecting and publishing Sufi classical narratives and teaching stories from oral and written sources in the Middle East and Central Asia. The tales he retold especially for children are published by Hoopoe Books in beautifully illustrated editions and have been widely commended - by Western educators and psychologists, the U.S. Library of Congress, National Public Radio and other media - for their unique ability to foster social-emotional development, thinking skills and perception in children and adults alike. Told for centuries, these stories express universal themes from the cultures that produced them, showing how much we have in common and can learn from each other. As noted by reviewers, such stories are more than just entertaining; familiarity with them provokes flexibility of thought, since each one contains levels of meaning that unfold in accordance with an individual's experience and understanding.Idries Shah widmete einen Großteil seines Lebenswerkes der Sammlung und Veröffentlichung klassischer Sufi-Erzählungen und Lehrgeschichten aus mündlich überlieferten und schriftlichen Quellen im Nahen Osten und Zentralasien. Die von Hoopoe Books in wunderschön illustrierten Ausgaben veröffentlichten Geschichten, die Shah speziell für Kinder nacherzählt hat, wurden von westlichen Pädagogen und Psychologen, sowie der U.S. Library of Congress (US-Bibliothek des Kongresses), dem anerkannten Radiosender National Public Radio und anderen Medien für ihre einzigartige Fähigkeit gelobt, die sozial-emotionale Entwicklung, das Denkvermögen und die Wahrnehmung bei Kindern und Erwachsenen gleichermaßen zu fördern. Diese seit Jahrhunderten erzählten Fabeln behandeln universelle Themen aus den Kulturen, aus denen sie stammen, und zeigen, wie viel wir gemeinsam haben und voneinander lernen können. Wie die Rezensenten feststellten, sind diese Art von Geschichten mehr als nur unterhaltsam. Die wiederholte Auseinandersetzung mit ihnen fördert flexibles Denken, denn jede Geschichte enthält mehrere Bedeutungsebenen, die der Leser/die Leserin je nach Lebenserfahrung und Verständnis für sich entdecken kann."

Praise for this book

"Children's Favorites" Award Winner - Children's Book Council (U.S.)


"Effectively supporting ... Idries Shah's original, entertaining, and thought-provoking picture book are the charming illustrations by artist Silvara Kossem. Fun and entertaining from cover to cover, The Spoiled Boy with the Terribly Dry Throat is a unique and unreservedly recommended addition to family, daycare center, preschool, elementary school, and community library picture book collections for children ages 4-8." - Children's Bookwatch (U.S.)


"These teaching stories can be experienced on many levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them; an adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way. Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within." - "All Things Considered," National Public Radio (U.S.)


"They [teaching stories] suggest ways of looking at difficulties that can help children solve problems calmly while, at the same time, giving them fresh perspectives on these difficulties that help them develop their cognitive abilities" - psychologist Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., in his lecture "Teaching Stories and the Brain" given at the U.S. Library of Congress


"Through repeated readings, these stories provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. Beautifully illustrated." - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.)


"Shah's versatile and multilayered tales provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children." - Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature


"These stories ... are not moralistic fables or parables, which aim to indoctrinate, nor are they written only to amuse. Rather, they are carefully designed to show effective ways of defining and responding to common life experiences." - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.), writing in Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.)


"These enchanting stories Shah has collected have a richness and depth not often encountered in children's literature, and their effect on minds young and old can be almost magical." - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.)


"In this tradition, the line between stories for children and those for adults is not as clear as it seems to be in Western cultures, and the lessons are important for all generations." - School Library Journal (U.S.)


"Our experiences show that, while reading Idries Shah's stories can help children with reading and writing, the stories can also help them transcend fixed patterns of emotion and behaviour which may be getting in the way of learning and emotional well-being too." - Ezra Hewing, Head of Education at the mental-health charity Suffolk Mind in Suffolk, U.K.; and Kashfi Khan, who teaches English as an additional language at Hounslow Town Primary School in London


"... these are vibrant, engaging, universal stories...." - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.)


"... they not only entertain, but can be understood on many different levels and provide a form of 'nourishment for the brain' that can help develop thinking abilities and perceptions." - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.)