THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND

Master storyteller Nayeri crafts a gripping World War II tale set in Iran.

When 13-year-old Babak and 8-year-old Sana are orphaned after their father is killed during the Anglo-Soviet invasion of their country, family members take them in, but the kids are sent to different households. So Babak decides to flee, taking on his father’s role as teacher to nomadic tribes. Strapping a blackboard to his back, he leads Sana into the treacherous Zagros Mountains to find the Bakhtiari people during their annual migration—and the dangers only deepen when they come across a Jewish boy attempting to dodge a Nazi spy. Nayeri tells a remarkably intimate story of a neutral nation caught between warring powers, seamlessly integrating philosophical questions about God, family, and cross-cultural understanding and suggesting that truly listening to those different from us can be a sacred and transformative act. The novel’s richly drawn characters and evocative setting provide enough context about World War II and Iranian history without overwhelming young readers, while Babak’s growth from insecure orphan to a confident mediator who bridges cultural divides sends a potent message about how “everybody has good work to do”—even children displaced by war.

A compelling testament to the power of education and empathy to light the way in even the most perilous circumstances.