The Lion & the Throne: Stories from the Shahnameh of Ferdowsi, Volume I

ByFirdawsi (Author),Ehsan Yarshater (Editor),Dick Davis (Translator)

About the Author

Ferdowsi was born in Khorasan in a village near Tus, in 940. His great epic the Shahnameh, to which he devoted most of his adult life, was originally composed for the Samanid princes of Khorasan, who were the chief instigators of the revival of Persian cultural traditions after the Arab conquest of the seventh century. During Ferdowsi's lifetime this dynasty was conquered by the Ghaznavid Turks, and there are various stories in medieval texts describing the lack of interest shown by the new ruler of Khorasan, Mahmud of Ghazni, in Ferdowsi and his lifework. Ferdowsi is said to have died around 1020 in poverty and embittered by royal neglect, though confident of his and his poem's ultimate fame.

Ehsan Yarshater was born in 1920 in Iran and received a Ph.D. in Persian Language and Literature from the University of Tehran and a Ph.D. in Old and Middle Iranian fromLondonUniversity. He is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Columbia University where he founded the Center for Iranian Studies in 1968 and started the Encyclopaedia Iranica in 1974. He currently lives inNew York where he teaches and edits the Encyclopaedia Iranica. This monumental project will record the details of the history, culture, and achievements of Iranian peoples throughout history.

Dick Davis was born inPortsmouth,England, in 1945 and educated at King's College,Cambridge (B.A. and M.A. in English Literature), and at theUniversity ofManchester (Ph.D. in Medieval Persian Literature). He is currently associate professor of Persian atOhioStateUniversity. He lived for eight years inIran (1970-78), as well as for periods inGreece andItaly. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. His other translations from Persian include Borrowed Ware: Medieval Persian Epigrams (Mage, 1997), My Uncle Napoleon (Mage, 1996), The Legend of Seyavash (Penguin Classics, 1992), and with Afkham Darbandi, The Conference of the Birds (Penguin Classics, 1984).

Pink and Say

Written and illustrated
by Patricia Polacco

Two Union soldiers, one a former slave, become friends during the Civil War after one is injured behind Confederate lines Sheldon Russell Curtis and Pinkus Aylee are eventually captured and sent toAndersonville, one of the worst prisons for soldiers. This dramatic true story captures the horrors of war and the beauty of friendship.

Matilda
by Roald Dahl

Matilda, age eight, is amazing! Not only is she a genius, but she has special powers too. Her family treats her horribly, and school is an absolute nightmare. However, Matilda is going to change her world. This is a hilarious book that will get kids' imaginations going.