Wise Fool!!!!! Sometimes Foolish!!!!

 

Title: GOHA: The Wise Fool

Author: Denys Johnson-Davies

Illustrator: Hag Hamdy and Hany

Publishing Company: Philomel Books

Copyright: 2005

Pages: 39

Genre: Traditional Literature

I chose this book because it was different from the rest and pretty interesting. This book is a collection of fifteen short stories about a man named Goha who can be foolish at times. The stories are all so different; there is no way to summarize just one. I picked my favorite one "Goha Refuses to Say a Word" is about Goha and his wife feeding the donkey, which is his responsibility because she does everything else. One day Goha is lazy and tired and asks his wife to do it. She says "No." After a small argument Goha has the idea, which is, either of them speak first they have to feed the donkey. Throughout the day neither of them spoke, until the house is robbed and the wife asks, "What is going on here?" Goha answers," I have won, you are feeding the donkey."

The illustrations are done on hand-sewn tapestries known as khiyamiyas in Egypt. In some parts of the sewing there are lines drawn around the Goha or the animal to emphasis shaking or nervousness.  The illustrators Hag Hamdy and Hany sit crossed- legged in their shop and draw or hand sew their designs. It was weird seeing hand-sewn illustrations, instead of paintings or drawings.

This book is recommended for third through sixth grade. I would use this in character education to show the different meaning in each short story. Using this book in History can be a great way to talk about Egypt’s style of art work. This book can be used in math; there were a couple of stories that could be used to answer some questions about it. It can be used to talk about peer pressure and ways to handle it. This book has Sheikh Zayed Book Award in 2007 for Personality of the Year in the Field of Culture, ALA Notable Books for Children 2006, Benjamin Franklin Award, Cyblis, ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award, and Sydney Taylor Book award.

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