The Boy Without a Name - (Teaching Stories) by Idries Shah (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

(Bilingual English-Urdu edition) On the day a boy is born, his parents are visited by a wise man who tells them, "This is a very, very important boy, and I'm going to give him something marvelous one day, but I will have to give him his name first. So please don't give him a name yet." So they named the boy Benaam, which means "nameless." The story tells how he seeks and eventually finds his own true name, and how he also gives away an old dream that he doesn't want - and gets a wonderful new dream. This is one of an illustrated series of Sufi teaching stories from the Middle East and Central Asia that were collected and adapted for children by Idries Shah, and that have captivated hearts and minds for more than a thousand years. The stories are designed to help children learn to examine their assumptions and to think for themselves. Among the many insights The Boy Without a Name can provoke is the idea that it takes patience and resolve to achieve one's goals in life. Mona Caron's beautiful watercolor illustrations embellish this unusual and captivating story, presenting the wonder of this hidden world to both children and adults.

Review Quotes

"... a satisfying bedtime story that will encourage pleasant dreams to drift into little ears." - Booklist (U.S.)

"... a young boy seeks and eventually finds his own name and is able to discard an old dream for a new and wonderful one. Highly recommended for personal, school and community library picturebook collections, The Boy Without a Name is an entertaining and thoughtful Sufi folktale which is wonderfully recounted by Idries Shah and marvellously illustrated with watercolor paintings by Mona Caron." - Midwest Book Review (U.S.)

"... one of three recent titles in the beautifully illustrated award-winning series of picture books by Idries Shah. ... Among the many insights that this story introduces to children is the idea that it takes patience and resolve to achieve one's goals in life." - Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature

"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.)

"Shah has collected hundreds of Sufi tales, many of which are teaching tales or instructional stories. 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.)

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