هفت دختر، هفت پسر

by Barbara Cohen, حسین ابراهیمی (Translator), Bahija Fattuhi Lovejoy

Seven daughters & seven sons, 1982, Barbara Cohen
عنوان: هفت دختر، هفت پسر : رمان نوجوانان؛ نوشته: باربارا کوهن (کهن)؛ بهیه لاوجوی؛ مترجم: حسین ابراهیمی (الوند)؛ مشخصات نشر: تهران، پیدایش، 1377، در 264 ص، شابک: ایکس - 964605577؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان آمریکایی قرن 20

Genres: Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Fiction, Fantasy, Historical, Fairy Tales

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 28, 1982

About the author

Barbara Cohen (1932-1992) was the author of several acclaimed picture books and novels for young readers, including The Carp in the Bathtub, Yussel's Prayer: A Yom Kippur Story, Thank You, Jackie Robinson, and King of the Seventh Grade.

Reviews

[Argona · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book years ago when I was a young teenage girl. It was my first time reading a book about a young girl that dresses as a boy and challenges the whole world that surrounds her, from her upbringing and family to the very society around her. I have always been a big fan of fairytales and a fairytale with a strong heroine was hard to find in those days. Let’s say… I fell in love! The beginning was a little slow but as the story progressed, I couldn’t get enough.

This book isn’t perfect either and I am sure now I can find things to raise an eyebrow at, but when I read it at that young age, it WAS perfect. I remember that my heart went to Buran. I felt angry when she was considered inferior to the boys. I felt angry when her own mother tried to push her into roles that were socially acceptable at the time for HER OWN GOOD. I felt scared when she made a scary leap and threw herself out of her nest and into the unknown dangerous world of that time, a world dominated by men only. It could have gone wrong in so many horrifying ways, but this is a fairytale and I laugh at my own fears at that time since now I know she would have found her Happy End no matter what.

I say now I see the story a little differently because now I see the bigger picture. Now I can’t help but feel sorry for Buran’s sisters just as much as her. They were never really a part of story. They were girls too far gone in their socially acceptable roles, simply accepting their fates and going along with it. Many girls are still like that. I found their father a very amazing man when I first read this book. He saw the intelligence in his daughter and tried his best to teach her his knowledge. He had the courage to make a difference! I still think of him as a great man. It’s because of men like him that many women finally got the chance to raise their voices and be heard, but now I feel sorry that he treated Buran’s sisters differently and didn’t teach them the same things. Buran was perfect back then but now I wonder why she never tried to connect with her sisters and teach them things herself. The prince too was wonderful back then but now I can’t help but laugh really hard at some of his stupidities. To think he was so certain a girl’s brain is not good enough for Chess! Then again if you are familiar with history and the oppression of females, his character isn’t far from the reality of those times. Unfortunately, even now some people live in the same time zone, frozen in archaic ways. At least he changed. Both he and Buran had to smash the world around them, and rebuild it with a new understanding. Both he and Buran change during this story, evolve into better and stronger characters and manage to create a tide that travels beyond borders. Her mother is forced to change her view, even if only a little. And her father comes to understand why god gave him seven daughters and gave his brother seven sons. It was time for the society to learn a lesson.

This story is a beautiful fairy tale that takes place in ancient lands with a sweet romance and good lessons for young girls. That they can be anything they want to and they can do anything they want to! That they have the right to find their own path, even if they have to make one and smash things, from walls to noses!

I love this book so much that all these years I have never forgotten it and therefore the story has taken a life of its own. Buran’s story lives in my head! Don’t be surprised if what you read feels a little different! I had years to think about her journey! All in all, this was a perfect read in that time of my life.

[Trin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reread, although the last time I read this YA novel I was actually in the intended age group. To my happy surprise, it is just as good as I remember. Based on an Iraqi legend, the novel follows Buran, one (the Elizabeth Bennet one, to be precise) of seven daughters of a poor father. To help her family get some badly needed money (and to avoid having to marry anyone unpleasant), Buran dresses up as a boy and sets off to make her fortune. Enter: one prince, and oh man, it's just so much fun. There's a truly fantastic scene where a disguised Buran and Prince Mahmud go for a walk at dusk, and then—as boys do—decide to play a little chase-y chase-y. When Mahmud catches Buran, he pins her against a wall and they have a total moment—at which point Mahmud of course has a minor gay freak out. I loved that scene when I was younger; I should not have been at all surprised when I grew up to be a slasher.

I only have two complaints, really, which are that Mahmud makes the leap from "I like my male best friend!" to "OMG, he must be a chick!" a bit too fast and too easily, and that their final reunion scene doesn't quite have the impact I would like. But those are both minor. I need to somehow acquire my own copy of this. And hey, besides this and The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle, does anybody know of any other good crossdressing/genderfuck-y YA novels?

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

وقتی گمشده شهرزاد را دیدم،یاد این افتادم و گفتم حتما اینم باید همین دوروبرها باشد!
بدون اینکه هیچ شباهت خاصی بین این دو باشد،من خیلی این دوتا را به هم مرتبط می بینم.شاید چون هردو مال یک انتشارات بودند و طرح جلد مشابهی داشتند.این را هم بارها و بارها خواندم و غرق لذت شدم.خیلی کتاب خوبی بود.هرچند بیش از حد غیرواقعی بود(مخصوصا جایی که از پسرعمویش انتقام می گیرد)ولی برای یک بچه دبستانی قطعا همان فضاهای غیرواقعی قشنگ بودند که دعوتش می کردند به دوباره و دوباره خوانی.
یک حالت فانتزی مشابه هزارویکشب داشت که خیلی می پسندیدم آن فضارا.الان هم کتابی توی این مایه ها گیرم بیاید،قورتش می دهم.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

2023 Review - 5 stars
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons tells the story of Buran, the 4th of 7 daughters born to a poor merchant. Determined to take fate into her own hands, she disguises herself as a boy and travels to a distant city to make her fortune.

I remember my Mom reading this one out loud to us kids on a road trip. I stole the book and read ahead. Then I convinced her to not read out loud further because I was a prudish 16-year-old. There is a scene in Part 3 where she (gasp) describes her naked body. Nothing explicit, it is part of her realizing that living as a boy for two years have not hidden the reality that she has breasts.

Anyway, whatever my qualms, I still loved this book. I loved the cross-dressing, the romance, the enchanted quality of it. Like many books I read and loved in high school, I came back hesitant but was delighted by how well it held up. (And I was surprised by how much of it I still basically had memorized!)

Now that I own a copy (thank you, Kris!) I plan on coming back to it more often.

2009 - 4 stars

[Mika · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’m sorry to say that the first new book I’ve read since March (aside from some great picture books I’ll review shortly) was this piece of fluff. There are no Wikipedia entries for the book or either of the two authors, which I take to be a bad sign. Actually, in hindsight, there were plenty of bad signs. But on with the review.

The story is based on an Iraqi folktale, and perhaps if either Ms. Cohen or Ms. Lovejoy were decent storytellers, I would have enjoyed the book. Broken into three parts, it tells of Buran, one of seven daughters of a poor shopkeeper. Her uncle is much more prosperous and has been blessed with seven sons. However, aside from this background information and one further scene involving Buran’s male cousins, there is no reason for “seven sons” to be part of the title. In fact, Buran’s sisters were included so infrequently that I couldn’t name a single one of them. This story is about Buran, who disguises herself as a man in order to travel to distant lands and set up a shop, thereby becoming infinitely wealthy and raising her family out of poverty.

Does Buran sound at all like Mulan to you? And I mean the story, not just the name, which we’ll assume is coincidence. Also, can you guess that Buran makes a very close male friend (who happens to be a prince) with whom she begins to fall in love? Yes, the prince even begins to suspect - hope? - that Buran (aka Nasir) is actually a woman, and tries several tests to find out. Of course, since the last test involves a public bath, Buran has no choice but to leave the city with all her riches, travelling far and wide in an effort to exact revenge on her male cousins. When did they come back in the story, you ask? No one is really sure. But they do turn up, and are humiliated when Buran more or less turns down their marriage proposals.

Anyway, there is a happy ending (did you expect anything else?) in which Buran and her prince are reunited, this time as a man and woman who are free to love each other. How predictable.

My two biggest complaints: first of all, I may not be much of a writer, but I can recognize good writing. I found none here. The writers started the book with the sort of flowy language one would expect from a Persian-y feeling story, but quickly deteriorated into “I’m coming, Father,” or “My heart felt sick with worry” (not actual quotes). Secondly, there was way too much about the prince’s concubines. Although the story is written at the level of ten or eleven year olds, there was really no reason to mention the prince calling for the girl who “pleased him best.” Seriously!

You may be wondering why I read it at all. Well, I was at Krista’s house with nothing to do for an hour and a half, and I couldn’t find the tv remote. (Hey! I don’t watch tv at home, it’s fair!)

My rating: skip it.

[Barb in Maryland · Rating 4 out of 5]

Utterly charming fairy tale. Buran is the middle of seven daughters of a poor merchant. Buran is smart, clever and wants to do something, anything to help the family. With the reluctant agreement of her parents, she disguises herself as a boy (not too hard for a slim teen-age girl to do)and sets out from Baghdad to earn (she hopes) a fortune as a trader. She becomes a servant and then apprentice to a wily merchant. Now known as Nasir, she is a partner in a very successful business in the port city of Tyre.
And in Tyre she meets Prince Mahmud and gradually becomes friends with him.

So we have a sweet romance, a girl doing something to save herself storyline, all in an exotic time and place. Happy sigh. There are some nice twists to the story that I will leave for other readers to discover for themselves. I also enjoyed the very mannered language that reflects the oral tradition of the story's origin and adds to the 'once upon a time...' feeling of the story.

Lovely all the way around.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a young adult literature class at BYU inbetween being an Elem. Ed major and becoming an English Major. I think this is the book that spurred the change and sealed the deal. Great book.

[Sarv · Rating 5 out of 5]

خیلی قشنگ بوووود T---T واقعا از خوندنش لذت بردم...رمنسش عالی بود.... عالی عالی T------T

+ کل کتاب رو توی فاصله ی بین کلاس هام خوندم XD

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The fourth of seven daughters, Buran grew into young womanhood keenly conscious of the fact that her gentle father, known throughout Baghdad as Abu al-Banat, or "the father of daughters," was considered unlucky to have had so many female children, but no son. Taught to read and write, and to play chess - unusual pursuits for a girl in the medieval Arab world - she had a sharp mind, and when her father grew ill, she convinced him to send her out into the world to make her fortune, just like her wealthy, male cousins. Eventually making her way to the coastal city of Tyre, Buran - now disguised as a young man named Nasir - succeeds in her goal, becoming a wealthy merchant, and the friend of Mahmud, the son of the Wali of Tyre. But is friendship enough for "Nasir" and Mahmud? And how will Buran fare when she meets her arrogant cousins again - the seven sons of her father's brother, who showed such contempt for her and her sisters, when they were still poor...?

Apparently based upon a well-known Iraqi folktale, first recorded in the eleventh century, Seven Daughters and Seven Sons is a story I have enjoyed reading many times, since first picking it up more than a decade ago. Although I did not first encounter it in youth, I suspect that if I had, I would have considered it a favorite. Told from alternating perspectives - first Buran's, then Mahmud's, then Buran's again - the story is immediately and lastingly engrossing, and although there are few surprises, it is ultimately quite satisfying to watch Buran succeed at her goal, and get her heart's desire as well. American author Barbara Cohen has produced many children's books, but her co-author, expatriate Iraqi Bahija Lovejoy, only ever produced this book, and a few others, which look to be non-fiction. I rather wish that this team had produced more - perhaps another tale based on Iraqi lore? However that may be, I'm grateful they did write Seven Daughters and Seven Sons, which I reread from time to time, when in need of a comfort read. Recommended to anyone looking for fiction based on folklore, or to those seeking children's fiction set in the Middle East and/or featuring strong girl characters.

[Cait · Rating 3 out of 5]

very readable, tidily organized and contained. I do like a "girl must crossdress for Reasons" story, but this one could have been significantly queerer; mahmoud's masculinity is apparently a dowsing rod for femininity. for the record, I also don't need my heroes to become wildly rich and in fact would rather prefer that they not, but this book does contain, like, god-tier levels of family pettiness related thereto.

this is a book that's a little harder to track down, and my copy from thr*ftbooks (does gr allow you to name am*zon competitors lol?) didn't arrive on time (my fault for not ordering it soon enough), so I'd like to shout out the nice lady who read it to me. :) while not a professional, she did have an EXTREMELY charming cat possessed of a soothing purr.

there's not a huge amount of information available about either of the authors (there's a little more out there about cohen), but bahija fattuhi lovejoy did apparently write a few other books about iraq!

[trash™️ · Rating 5 out of 5]

i'm crying after finishing it, crying writing this and i will be crying inside for the rest of my life because of this book.

it's really really beautiful, it just pierced my heart and im so overwhelmingly happy.

[Niloo N · Rating 1 out of 5]

دنبال کتاب کودک خوب می‌گشتم ولی خب این یکی، meh.

[Meg Percy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven’t read this since I was a kid and it’s withstood the test of time 🥹 shoutout to Jacob for indulging my secret love of reading aloud and letting me take up our entire drive back from Cleveland and part of our evening with this delightful tale! I see your modern independent anti-romance girlboss gals and I raise you Buran, who has the chance to change her fate á la Merida and is undoubtedly a badass girlboss, and who, at the end of the day, also wants to love and be loved. She has her cake and eats it too, and more power to her.

[Tryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short, romantic novel is based on a Persian legend, steeped in the traditions of the Middle East. The story both romanticizes and criticizes the cultural definition of femininity.

One theme of the novel is expressed on the last page, where Buran tells her children the story of how she and the Prince came together, because she says, “children should not think that the blessings of Allah are theirs by right or come to them simply for the asking.” No, this story teaches that a person must go out and seize her destiny. It’s a quest story, but whereas the hero of a quest story is traditionally male, here the hero is a woman disguised as a man. So in a sense the story questions the male quest story, but in another sense it reinforces it, since Buran has to pretend to be a male in order to undertake her quest at all. In the process of reinventing herself, Buran is irreversibly changed, empowered, and emancipated. When she resumes her feminine identity, she cannot cast away the sense of independence she gained as easily as she cast aside the male clothing.

The “blessings of Allah” Buran brings to her family and herself come to her because she has the courage to risk, pursue, and persevere. She is naturally gifted with intelligence, quick wit, and beauty. But all of her gifts would have led to frustration if Buran had settled for the lot life seemed to be handing her.

This story also explores the duality of a woman’s nature. Do women care only for the duties of their household and their children? Are they only preoccupied with adorning their bodies, as the Prince’s friend asserts? This story shows otherwise. While women do care deeply about home and family and while they want to be beautiful and attractive to men, these needs do not exclude other goals—to achieve, learn, to travel, to earn, to discover, to create. Buran’s conscious motivation for undertaking her journey is to help her family, to provide dowries for her sisters and financial security for her parents. But another, deeper motivation propels her as well, one she does not acknowledge to herself, but which we can easily detect. She wants to see if she can do it. She wants to find out if she has what it takes. She wants to try her skills and test her own courage and find a wider arena than her little home in Bagdad, where her intelligence can have fair play. She proves to the world that a woman can achieve. And she proves it to herself as well.

What is most gratifying to me is that Buran’s character is shown to have both the traditional feminine longings for romance and marriage and at the same time a desire to undertake a quest of her own. Rather than subverting each other, these polar purposes actually complement each other in Buran’s life. Her experiences out in the world of men make her even more attractive to the Prince, so much so that he finds himself strangely drawn to her, even in her masculine disguise. She becomes to him more than a beautiful face and body, but a friend and counselor. The dramatic irony makes their relationship bittersweet as we wait for the truth to be revealed. And when Buran returns home she finds that her intelligence and daring, along with her beauty and fortune, are attracting men from all over the world to seek her hand. But Buran’s standards are high and she will settle for no one but the man she loves.

So in this book the traditional male quest plot combines with the traditional female matrimony plot, woven together in a very satisfying, highly romantic, and even inspiring story.

[Julene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love this retelling of an Iranian folktale! Coming from that culture, you might not expect to find a story about the intelligence and empowerment of women, but that is what you get, coupled with a great love story! I read it to my husband recently and he loved it too!

One warning: although it seems to be written for a fairly young audience I would be cautious about letting your pre-pubescent kids have at it since there is a description of a girls appearance that might not be appropriate. Might be a better one to read aloud to them and edit any parts that are sketchy.

[Hami · Rating 5 out of 5]

خداااای من! من راهنمایی بودم که این کتاب رو خوندم. خواهرم برام از نمایشگاه کتاب خریده بود. اون سال تابستون هی خوندم و خوندم و خوندم تا اینکه حفظ شدم. و تا مدت ها هرسال تابستون یه بار میخوندمش. یه مدتی هم دنیال اثر دیگه ای از نویسنده گشتم اما چیزی پیدا نکردم. امسال دوباره میرم میخونمش :)

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and exotic book set in the ancient cities of Baghdad and Tyre. The story is fairly fast-paced and well-written, and the characters are interesting and complex.

It follows the adventures of Buran, the fourth of seven daughters, whose father is considered cursed since he has been deprived of sons. Such a man, who is also poor in business, cannot provide decent husbands for his daughters or a secure future for his family. Buran convinces her father to let her be the son he never had: she disguises herself as a boy, "Nasir," so she can put her hard work and intelligence to good use in a culture dominated by men. Thirsty for knowledge, with her eyes and ears always open, she learns quickly and in a few years finds herself in far-away Tyre managing a very successful business.

There she meets Prince Mahmud, who quickly forms a deep friendship with "Nasir" - the first true, sincere friend the Prince has ever had, who expects nothing material or political in return. Mahmud has been raised to believe that women are merely playthings, and a means to raising up heirs. The concept of a woman as an intelligent friend is completely foreign to him... So when he begins to suspect that Nasir is not exactly as he seems, his traditional education regarding women, love, and marriage is rocked to the core.

I love the themes in this book: self-confidence and discovery, following the promptings of your heart, the power of a parent's faith in their child, and the importance of friendship and mutual interests between a husband and wife. However, I only gave four stars out of five because I would recommend this book with a strong caveat: The authors necessarily place an emphasis on the gender confusion created by Buran's disguise and Mahmud's feelings toward a precious friend that he believes to be male. I feel that it is done in a tasteful way, but a wise parent should read it first and be there to discuss questions or concerns that may arise as their child reads the book.

[Kristen Harvey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short & Sweet: I cracked this book open and was easily taken into the story. Buran is one of seven daughters and her father's business is not doing well, meaning it will be hard for any of them to find suitable husbands. She has a mind for business and begs her father to let her travel to a far away city disguised as a boy to try and make their fortune. He relents and she ends up as a servant of a greedy merchant who quickly sees her wit for what it is and teaches her along the way to their destination. Told in alternating perspectives, we also meet the crown prince Mahmud, who quickly befriends Buran only to find himself falling in love. He hopes to reveal that Buran is actually a woman in order, but she flees back home, having made her fortune and worries that Mahmud will find out her secret and hate her forever. I just love this tale of romance and deception and especially when she makes her way home and encounters her seven cousins, all men who sought their fortunes through trading like she had. Definitely a tale of cunning and showing that women indeed are just as good if not better than men at business.

Final Verdict: A beautiful retelling of an Iraq folk tale. Definitely for those who love retellings and fairy/folk tales.

[Tennys · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an all time favorite of mine. I have read it several times. In a culture where only boys are valued, a girl uses her ingenuity to help herself and her family. This book has intrigue, adventure, and a bit of romance. I will definitely read it again and again.

[Nhi Nguyễn · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an enthralling and empowering story for young girls and women! This book is based on a popular folktale in Iraq since the 11th century, telling the story of Buran - the fourth daughter of seven daughters of a man. You know that time, the fact that a man only had daughters would make him a subject for ridicule, because how useless women were seen. So Buran’s father was constantly made fun of and looked down upon because he only had seven daughters and not a son, while his brother - Buran’s uncle - had seven sons.

Not wanting to marry the man her father told her to, and aspiring to be a successful businesswoman to help her poor family, Buran disguised as a man - Nasir - and traveled to another land far away - Tyre - to set up her business. The first part of the story told us the basic background of Buran and her family, the way her father and herself were laughed at by her uncle and his sons. Then came the difficulties of “Nasir” on “his” way to Tyre, being a servant to a difficult rich man, but also learning the art of trading from him.

Then in part two, we saw how successful “Nasir” had been with “his” herb business, and already, Buran had broken tremendous ground and glass ceiling set for women. She was successful in a field that no one thought a woman would succeed. But somehow, her success was also a stench reminder that in order to achieve that accomplishment, she had to become a man; she couldn’t be a woman and be successful at what she aspired, because that wasn’t the norm. And then came Prince Muhmad and his two friends, who befriended “Nasir”. As much as the four of them grew closer and closer, especially “Nasir” and Mahmud, doubt about “Nasir”’s difference and strangeness still clogged Mahmud’s mind, and they set out tests to see if “Nasir” was really what “he” told them “he” was.

Once again, we can clearly see the element of sexism in the nation during that time, because according to every man (yep, man), there is no way a woman could excel at playing chess, had interest in armor/weapons or be that clever in trading and create a fortune for herself. Like what Mahmud’s friends and countless other men at that time believe, women were only useful for house chores, serving men and giving birth to children. They were not the creature designed for intelligence, rational thinking and talent in trading. So the fact that “Nasir” was actually a woman - Buran - now a rich woman beyond imagination, is a not-so-subtle resistance and challenge to the age-old sexist notion.

After getting rich and couldn’t hide her true identity anymore, Buran indirectly came clean to the prince, then set sails back home, getting her revenge against her cousins along the way (she met them in each city on her way back, but they never recognized her, since she was no longer that poor girl they laughed at at the beginning of the story. They never made it big like their father bragged before. Instead, they were working as servants at numerous workplace. Buran helped them by giving them money, in return for a B tattoo above their heart as a way of remembering the rich lady that saved them. Amazing revenge ha ha ha :D :D :D). But something still made her heart ache - something, or rather someone captured her heart long ago, but he hadn’t come to find her yet. It built up till the last pages of the novel (my heart nearly broke because it had taken too long and still no sign of Muhmad, only countless of potential suitors coming for Buran’s hands in marriage but she always refused). It was so sad to see her like this: by day an accomplished trader, a strong, talented and in control woman who seemed to have everything except for the man she truly desired, and by night a lonely lover who couldn’t stop crying at the thought of being forever separated from her true love. Thank Allah at the end, when the two love birds finally saw each other again after such a long time, and we have our happy ending!!!! SO SWEET!!!

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a youth fiction, easy quick read, but still has qualities making it very engaging for adults. I would not let my boys read it until who knows when. It goes into detail about physical details related to a woman’s body several times that I would not want my boys to read at their age. However, when I was in high school, as a girl, reading this book, it was more just insightful into her female experience and not suggestive to me at all.

As an adult now, it was still a fun read!

[Laura (kroosreadsandreviews) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this tale of how a young lady stood up for her family amidst the cultural and religious beliefs of her time.

[Zoe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a YA retelling of an Arabian folktale, about a girl who disguises herself as a boy and moves to a new city to start a business in order to support her family, who are struggling to get by with seven daughters in need of a dowry and no sons to help out. Of course, she falls in love while in disguise, and various complications ensue.

The love story was actually the worst part by far; it's extremely simplistic and just generally disappointing (possible spoilers: I particularly didn't like the fact that he figured out she was a girl immediately upon realizing that he had feelings for her, because of course there was no other option, and the fact that just as he was about to find her again at the end, she chose that day to go for a long walk in the desert and managed to meet up with him en route--an annoying and unbelievable coincidence that added nothing to the plot).

I loved the book up until she met her romantic interest, though, and I would still cautiously recommend it.

[mairiachi · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is another really sweet romantic-ish (not your normal romance) story. She is trying to make money for her family, goes "undercover" and dresses as a boy so that there's no scandal about a girl selling things - she meets a boy who thinks she's a boy and she starts liking him and of course there's tension because she can't tell him that she's a girl because of scandal and their family name and b/c he'd reject her and she doesn't want him to hate her and also because she really likes him and wants to marry him instead of stay single. Etc. It's a really sweet book and I'll come back and write a good review later. For now you can use the time to read the book, write a better review.

[Angeline · Rating 5 out of 5]

My wonderful sister gave this book to me and told me that it was great. She was right! I really enjoyed this book. It was written in a way that pulled you in and made to forget what was going on around you. I love it when a book helps me take a break from real life.

It was fun to have such a great main character. I liked going through her growing process with her. I also really liked watching two young people that have been taught incorrect ways of looking at marriage find out that they can be best friends with the one they love.

[Mahya Naeimabadi · Rating 5 out of 5]

شاید اولین کتابی که خوندم توی دوران راهنمایی از کتابخونه مدرسه. دوسش داشتم و این کتاب توی چیزی که الان هستم اثر گذاشت.

[Tabitha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This ended up being way more about romance than lady boss girl power than I expected. Ah well.

[Madhulika Liddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

In medieval Baghdad lives a poor shopkeeper named Abu al-Banat, who has seven daughters but no sons. Diametrically opposite, in both wealth and nature and offspring, is his older brother, a merchant who is very wealthy, pompous, and far too proud of his seven sons. He spares no opportunity to taunt Abu al-Banat about his daughters: what use are seven daughters? And who will marry girls who bring no dowry? When Abu al-Banat, remembering the childhood closeness between his beloved fourth daughter Buran and her eldest cousin Hassan, suggests a match between the two, he (and Buran) are ridiculed and insulted by both Hassan and his father.

And this prompts Buran to ask her parents’ permission to put into action a daring, seemingly impossible, plan she’s concocted. Namely that she—highly intelligent, well-tutored by her doting father, and enterprising—should, disguised as a man, leave Baghdad and set up trade in a faraway city. After all, that’s what her uncle is doing with the help of his seven sons: one is in Cyprus, one in Damascus, and so on, each handling the family business in a different city.

Good, solid adventure, a great romance. Deception. Revenge (here, as in the best of stories, a dish served up cold). A very feisty female protagonist, who really is the central character of the book, even though one large section of the book is narrated not by Buran herself but by Mahmud, son of the Wali of Tyre. Some humour, a healthy dose of a great relationship between a father and the daughter he’s so proud of.

A tale straight out of The Arabian Nights, and thoroughly enjoyable. I wasn’t surprised to discover—from the note at the end of the book—that Seven Daughters and Seven Sons is based on a folk tale from Iraq.

My only grouse is about a minor detail regarding a man’s assumption that if he is hopelessly in love with another person, the object of his affections must be a woman. Homosexuality was much more acceptable in the medieval Islamic world than in the West, so it’s highly likely that the average nobleman wouldn’t think twice about falling in love with a beautiful youth.

[Shannon · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this retelling of an eleventh-century Iraqi folktale, but it came nowhere near Shadow Spinner, our previous book about the Middle East.

Telling the tale from two different perspectives decreased tension and ended up repetitive. The narrative would've been far stronger if it stayed with Buran the entire time.

Then, some of the parts were a little "sexy" for middle grade lit, making me wonder that Sonlight ever recommended it as part of the Asian Studies year. It describes the heroine's naked body as she looks in the mirror in more detail than necessary at one point, and the love interest, a prince, can call his favorite slave girl for pleasure at any time (which I realize is historically accurate but which did not endear me to him). Tingling sensations and mysterious desires fill the protagonists' bodies when they touch at points. I skipped the naked description, and the other stuff was vague enough to go over my kids' heads, but this one will find its way quietly to the giveaway pile at the earliest opportunity. The story's just not good enough to suffer the stuff that skirts the line.

[Akiva ꙮ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sought this out for #disguisedasaboy queer/trans subtext, and it delivers.

To tell the truth, after twelve weeks among men only, after twelve weeks without ever looking at my own self, I'd almost forgotten I was a woman. That doesn't mean I thought of myself as a man. I was only me, Nasir.

The author definitely didn't understand the subtext she was putting down, the speed it was squashed. I would bet it's actually anachronistic that none of these rich boys has ever heard of homosexuality, although I don't have citations for this.

I found the beginning slow but it sped up considerably. Instead of discovering magic powers, the characters are learning about the obscure and mystical powers of capitalism. Not interesting to me at all, personally, but I thought it was well done - it's clear what Buran/Nasir likes about it.

It's interesting how learning Arabic has changed how I see some stylistic translation choices! "O my father" sounds super formal in English, at least in part because it's so polysyllablic, but when it's a literal translation of "ya abbi" and you know that ya is an indispensable part of speech, you can see how it could actually be just a normal and familiar way to talk.