Read-Aloud Thursday

This year in order to help my second grader better connect with what he is learning most of our read-aloud Thursday books will be tied to our history lessons. This week we are studying ancient Persia, so imagine my delight when I found a comic book version of a selection from the Shahnameh.

Rostam: Tales from the Shahnameh is a wonderful visual introduction to the story that still manages to capture the elements of an epic. There is the flawed hero living and fighting for what he believes to be right, but caught in a web of love between himself and his country, himself and a woman, and the love for him from the child he doesn't know he has. Then, of course, the web is made more complex by the treachery of another who wants more power for himself. This is like the tales of King Arthur, but from a rich, foreign culture that many children don't have the opportunity to know. Good stuff!