Amu’s Violets

A FOLKLORIC CELEBRATION OF THE SEASONS AND NEW BEGINNINGS

An enchanting story of the Persian New Year and moment when winter turns to spring, based on the Iranian folktale of Naneh Sarma and Amu Nowruz

In the land of Winter, queenly Naneh Sarma coats the mountains and valleys in ice and snow and when she is tired she rests in her spiky snow castle. But with no one to talk to, Naneh Sarma gets lonely. In this gentle story based on a household Iranian folktale, Naneh Sarma journeys to the far off land of Spring to seek Amu Nowruz, Spring’s herald, who sows the meadows with the seeds and flowers that fill his enormous knapsack. At the border between Winter and Spring, Naneh Sarma waits patiently for Amu Nowruz but by the time he arrives, she has fallen fast asleep. Gently, in her outstretched hands, Amu Nowruz plants violets.

In the land of Winter, wide expanses of white snow and craggy mountains rise against backdrops of pale pink, blue, and gray while in the land of Spring, a profusion of green leaves and intricate flowers climb across the pages. Illustrated with Nooshin Safakhoo’s precisely inked lines and enchanting colors, this tale of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, rejoices in each pale wintersweet flower, icy gust of snow, and fresh tulip blossom alike.

Hadi Mohammadi is a celebrated Iranian children’s book writer, researcher, and critic who has published more than forty novels and picture books for children and young adults. He was nominated for a Hans Christian Andersen Award in 2006. His children’s book In the Meadow of Fantasies was selected for IBBY’s Collection for Young People with Disabilities in 2021 and was a 2022 Mildred L. Batchelder Honor Book.

Translator: Sara Khalili
Sara Khalili is an editor and translator of contemporary Iranian literature. Her translations include Moon Brow and Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandanipour, The Pomegranate Lady and Her Sons by Goli Taraghi, The Book of Fate by Parinoush Saniee, Kissing the Sword by Shahrnush Parsipur, and Tali Girls by Siamak Herawi (for Archipelago Books). She also translated Hadi Mohammadi’s In the Meadow of Fantasies for Elsewhere Editions.

Nooshin Safakhoo was born in Tehran in 1980. After teaching, she began a long career of painting precise, lyrical images for children’s books, including The Owl & the Jaybird and Shahname.Her illustrations for In the Meadow of Fantasies have earned her numerous awards, including a NAMI Concours Prize. Nooshin has been selected three times to show her work at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair.