Seeking common ground

At the beginning of World War II, the shah declared Iran neutral, but that didn’t last long. To keep Hitler from snatching Iran’s valuable supply of oil, the British and the Soviets invaded Iran in 1941. An Allied-occupied Iran serves as the backdrop for The Teacher of Nomad Land (Levine Querido, 192 pp.). Award-winning author Daniel Nayeri gives just enough detail to set the scene, though readers may wish to consult the author’s note at the end for historical context.

After being mistaken for a resistance fighter, teacher Mohammad Noori dies during the six-day Anglo-Soviet invasion. With “their last parent” now dead, Babak and Sana are left orphans. A year after chiseling their father’s headstone, the children run away from their caretakers, hoping to be taken in by the Bakhtiari, a nomadic tribe that migrates over the mountains every winter. But they have little to offer the Bakhtiari in return for hospitality. Eight-year-old Sana has plenty of charm, but teenage Babak only has a blackboard and some books. He straps the cumbersome blackboard onto his back and lugs it across the desert, hoping to teach the nomadic children to read.

The Teacher of Nomad Land Daniel Nayeri

Babak promised his sister that they wouldn’t be separated. Daily, his promise is tested, especially after they accidentally provoke the ire of a murderous, if klutzy, Nazi spy. The story particularly highlights Babak’s journey into young manhood as he attempts to become a leader like his father. Boys might benefit from the book’s emphasis on taking personal responsibility: “Everywhere, Babak can see the need for a teacher, and in himself the desire to be one. But he doesn’t know what to say.” Even though he initially struggles to provide answers, Babak learns to make confident decisions on behalf of those who depend on him.

Thanks to the frequent blunders that often come when people from diverse cultures attempt to communicate, The Teacher of Nomad Land has plenty of funny moments. For example, they meet a British soldier named Callum. To the children, that sounds a lot like kalam, the Farsi word for cabbage.

The book doesn’t gloss over the weightiness of war, like when a Jewish boy describes the horror of being loaded onto a train to be taken to a concentration camp. Nayeri also doesn’t shy away from entrusting young readers with profound ideas: “The countries are lines drawn and redrawn. Some of the lines are worth dying for. Some of them are meaningless. Everyone disagrees on which is which.”

Several of the characters also reference praying to and thanking an “all-wise” God, though, given the setting, it’s difficult to know whether they’re referring to Allah or the One True God. Even if that’s a little confusing, the author doesn’t make it difficult to distinguish who the bad guys are. One side character sums it up well: “I would rather be in the capture of the British, than the friendship of the Nazis.”