Ahmed and the Feather Girl by Jane Ray

Interesting.  That was my first thought after reading Ahmed and the Feather Girl, by Jane Ray.  I’m still not sure if I like the book or not.  The words are not simplified for the reader or insulting by any means.  And, the story has a definite plot but it is very eccentric.  A young orphan boy who is a laborer for the circus, Ahmed, finds a golden egg and it hatches into a girl who is part bird.  The cruel circus leader keeps the girl in a cage until Ahmed sets her free.  The mood of the book is very dismal, and even though Ahmed and Aurelia become free in the end, the mood is still somewhat sad because it took magical intervention for them to get away.  There is not a lot of character development but we do get a sense of the characters from the sensational illustrations.   Ahhhhh…the illustrations…like a wonderful dream.  They were very colorful and energetic, and although somewhat surreal, it is obvious from the details that a great deal of care and work went into the pictures.  The illustrations compliment the story perfectly and almost tell the story more than the words do.  Every bit of the page is covered with something so this book would work well as a wordless book if the author had chosen that. What initially attracted me to this book was having a main character named Ahmed because I felt this story probably contained a multicultural perspective that would be great for classroom sue.  However, upon finishing the book, I decided that this book actually plays into a stereotype of Middle Easterners being vagrants and gypsies.  For this reason, I am still undecided as to if I like the book or not. 
            If I did decided to use the book, I would focus on the treatment of the orphan and the feather girl, Aurelia, and the feelings the characters must have had.  After reading the story, I would ask students how they felt about the way Ahmed was treated?  How do you think Ahmed felt upon finding the egg and when the circus leader took it away from him?  How do you think Aurelia felt being locked up in the cage?  My goal for these questions would be that the class would have a discussion about what human beings need to survive.  I would want students to grasp that we not only need food, water, and shelter, but we also need love, freedom, and friendship.  I think it is important that students understand these things because, as they are growing up and deciding what they value in life, they need to have information about what it takes to achieve a sense of well-being.  Without this information, they will be unable to make choices that help them obtain this. 
Year Published: 2010