Salman Rushdie for children

Most people when they think of Salman Rushdie think of the fatwa that was levied against him for his book The Satanic Verses or for his Booker Prize winning book, Midnight's Children. Not so many people know that he wrote a chapter book ostensibly for children: Haroun and the Sea of Stories. I first read Haroun for a book club I was a part of, and it was one of the few books I actually enjoyed. It is a hilarious, fantastical book that is great fun to read. I loved in so much in fact, that it made me pick up and read Midnight's Children. While I enjoyed Midnight's Children, it was not an easy or quick read. It was definitely one of those books I was glad I had read but had moments where I wasn't sure I was enjoying the reading. 

As D. was working on organizing his room and getting things ready for school, he came across the copy of Haroun that I had given to him as a gift quite a few years ago. We had just finished reading our latest teatime book, so it seemed the obvious next choice. I had forgotten how much I loved it. The children are also loving it based on the laughs and snickers I hear as I am reading it. And really, what's not to love about a story that is all about the telling of stories? 

Here's how the story begins...

"There was once, in the country of Alifbay, a sad city, the saddest of cities, a city so ruinously sad that it had forgotten its name. It stood by a mournful sea full of glumfish, which were so miserable to eat that they made people belch with melancholy even though the skies were blue.

In the north of the sad city stood mighty factories in which (so I'm told) sadness was actually manufactured, packaged and sent all over the world, which never seemed to get enough of it. Black smoke poured out of the chimneys of the sadness factories and hung over the city like bad news.

And in the depths of the city, beyond an old zone of ruined buildings that looked like broken hearts, there lived a happy young fellow by the name of Haroun, the only child of the storyteller Rashid Khalifa, whose cheerfulness was famous throughout that unhappy metropolis, and whose never-ending stream of tall, short and winding tales had earned him not one but two nicknames. To his admirers he was Rashid the Ocean of Notions, as stuffed with cheery stories as the sea was full of glumfish; but to his jealous rivals he was the Shah of Blah.  ...  "

I love the language and the continual plays on words. It is a terrific story and great fun to read out loud. So, I highly recommend you go find yourself a copy and begin to read it, either to yourself or to your children, and be carried along by a truly gifted storyteller.