Little Parisa-Farsi, left alone after an earthquake demolishes her home of Bam, Iran. She doesn’t despair. She does what any little girl would do. She dances. She laughs. She shares. She reveals our common humanity.
- ISBN: 9781423104483
- Author: Napoli, Donna Jo
- Illustrator: Swiatkowska, Gabi
- Published: 2009 , Hyperion Book CH
- Themes: Courage, earthquake, Hope, humanity, Loneliness, Orphans, resilience, Young adult
- Descriptors: Fiction, Iran, Middle East, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9)
- No. of pages: 40
The Earth Shook (A Persian Tale) by Donna Jo Napoli and illustrations by Gabi Swiatkowska is a fictional story about a little girl orphaned from an earthquake in Iran. It is based on true events because on December 26, 2003 there was an earthquake in the city of Bam in Iran and many children were orphaned.
The girl is awoken out of her sleep by the earth shaking and finds herself alone wandering around trying to find anybody. There was no one except animals that associated her with humans that have hurt them in the past. Finally, she grows tired of the animals threatening her and decides to cherish being a human. She takes care of flowers, makes music and dances, and tells jokes to make herself laugh again. All the animals join in with her except the lion. Finally she decides to make food and share because that’s what humans do. The lion and all other animals ate with her.
Parisa, the little girl, gives herself courage to go on with life and being the only human left that she knows, helps humanity continue on by doing all the things humans love to do in their life. This was a wonderful book and it’s important to share with children because earthquakes seem to be happening all around us in this time period. They are very real and their consequences are severe. However, this book proves that no matter what, life must go on. We must cherish being humans and being able to do all that we can do. The oil paintings are a beautiful addition to this story and really captivate what’s happening.