CANR

• A Knot is Not a Tangle (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrations by Vesper Stamper) - 2025 Alfred A. Knopf, New York, NY
• Down a Dark Path (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Lesley Vamos) - 2025 Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY
• Drawn Onward (words by Daniel Nayeri ; pictures by Matt Rockefeller) - 2024 Harper Alley, New York, NY
• Mirror Town (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Liz Enright) - 2023 Little, Brown and Company, New York, NY
• Sasha and Puck and the Brew for Brainwash (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Estrela Lourenço) - 2020 Albert Whitman & Company, Chicago, IL
• Sasha and Puck and the Potion of Luck (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Anneliese Mak) - 2019 Albert Whitman & Company, Chicago, IL
• Sasha and Puck and the Cure for Courage (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Estrela Lourenço) - 2019 Albert Whitman & Company, Chicago, IL
• Sasha and Puck and the Cordial Cordial (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Anneliese Mak) - 2019 Albert Whitman & Company, Chicago, IL
• The Most Dangerous Book: An Illustrated Introduction to Archery (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrated by Anna-Maria Jung) - 2017 Workman Publishing Co., New York, NY
• How to Tell a Story (Daniel Nayeri ; illustrations by Brian Won) - 2015 Workman Publishing Co., New York, NY
• Another Jekyll, Another Hyde (Daniel & Dina Nayeri) - 2012 Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA

• Daniel Nayeri website - https://www.danielnayeri.com/

  Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent some years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age seven with his family. He has had a long career in publishing, first as a literary agent, then an editor and publisher for houses such as HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Macmillan. During that time he edited books in every category, from memoir, cookbooks, board books, picture books, literary fiction, how-to, novelty, and more. He is the author of several books, including Everything Sad is Untrue (A True Story), winner of the Michael L. Printz Award, the Christopher Medal, and the Middle Eastern Book Award, and The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, winner of the Newbery Honor. He lives in the U.S. with his wife and son.

• Mackin Community - https://www.mackincommunity.com/2023/07/14/daniel-nayeri-there-are-many-ways-to-experience-stories/

  Daniel Nayeri: There Are Many Ways to Experience Stories
  By Lisa Bullard
  July 14, 2023
  From his opening line— “The first time I was stoned to death by an angry mob, I was not even a criminal”—the twelve-year-old narrator of Daniel Nayeri’s newest book, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams (Levine Querido, 2023), pulls readers into an adrenaline-packed tale that is rich with history, adventure, and the complex emotions that come with trying to build a found family. Set along the Silk Road in the 11th century, the story is told through the eyes of an orphan dubbed Monkey and captured brilliantly through full-color illustrations by Daniel Miyares. Like Nayeri’s Printz Medal winner, Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story) (Levine Querido, 2020)—an autobiographical novel about a young Iranian refugee who narrates his story from an Oklahoma middle school—this new book is a masterful example of storytelling layered with surprising twists and laugh-out-loud humor.

  Here, Nayeri talks with Lisa Bullard about the challenge of writing kid narrators, some alternative approaches to storytelling, and what he sees as art’s greatest achievement.

  In The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, you bring your setting—a time and place in history that is perhaps little known to many American readers—to vivid life on the page. What inspired you to set Monkey’s story in this location?

  When someone says the “Silk Road,” the first visual that comes to mind is a caravan of camels travelling across a sand dune, piled high with merchandise. And that’s somewhat accurate. The Silk Road was a network of trade routes that covered several topographies from Eastern China to Baghdad. Camels were common for the shifting sands in the Taklamakan Desert, where their webbed toes helped them quite a lot, but yaks were common in the Pamir Mountains. The time period spans from the 4th century to the 11th, so we’re talking about an era that is almost three times longer than all United States history. A lot happened during that time. So, you can imagine it’s a giant stretch of land, covering a vast array of cultures, over a huge stretch of time. But even so, I became fascinated with the lives of the merchants who made those trade routes their home. I wanted to know what they were like, what sorts of stories they valued most, what they dreamed about. Samir, a galivanting teller of tales, was born out of those wonderings, and soon, his polar opposite, the sincere and dour Monkey.

  What were the complications in researching and creating this story?

  The biggest complication to research is always language. There are still so many historical documents left to be translated. The hardest element to convey to readers is that people haven’t changed much over the centuries. If I could simply get readers past the unfamiliar nouns (samovars, caravanserais), I knew they’d be familiar with the adjectives (a lonely orphan, a hopeful liar), and therefore, the deeply universal verbs (desire for love, longing for family).

  The hardest element to convey to readers is that people haven’t changed much over the centuries.”

  Daniel Nayeri recording the audiobook for "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams"
  Both The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams and Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story)—available in a new paperback edition on August 8—ask questions about truth: who gets to define it, in what ways it matters, why people sometimes avoid it. I especially admire the way you manage to signal readers about the “truth” of a character’s situation even though it’s clear your character doesn’t yet recognize that truth. What is the role of truth in a story, in our understanding of ourselves, in life? What questions do you most want young readers to ask themselves about the concept of truth as they read your books?

  That’s a very insightful question. We are programed a bit these days, to read stories looking for the “good guys” and the “bad guys,” and we want one side to deal in the truth and the other to be mistaken at all times. In fact, I notice that we sometimes even collapse the ability of the villains to speak particularly evil lies, even when they’re clearly wrong-headed to do so. But in this world, there are partial truths, and soothing delusions, and lies of omission as well as commission. I would love young readers to become much better versed at spotting beautiful lies and uncomfortable with any truth they haven’t verified recently. But fundamentally, the truth is all we have in a world otherwise overrun with lies, and the greatest achievement of any piece of art, in my opinion, is to be useful in determining which is which.

  The truth is all we have in a world otherwise overrun with lies, and the greatest achievement of any piece of art, in my opinion, is to be useful in determining which is which.”

  Left: Favorite writing space. Right: Book signing.
  The narrators of both these stories—Monkey as an orphaned child traveling the Silk Road and Khosrou/Daniel as an Iranian refugee in Oklahoma—have been significantly shaped by living as displaced people. What was the challenge for you in writing about that element of their stories?

  In some ways, the displaced character is a challenge because they must explain where they’re from more than usual, and that creates a lot of “telling” rather than “showing,” which is an accepted no-no. But in other ways, the displaced character is the perfect narrator because they need the new place explained to them. They don’t take their present circumstances for granted. They organically want to talk about what is happening. I find one of the most challenging elements of first-person kid narrators is that a lot of kids don’t want to share so much. The narrator always must be a precocious chatterbox for the author to get the story out. To have that naturally in the [displaced] character is a blessing.

  Your novels have amazing “read-aloud” potential. In what ways has your writing style been influenced by oral traditions of storytelling?

  I’m working on a picture book right now about this very topic. That is, when I was a kid, the best stories came from a man named Abbas, who was the storyteller in his village. I would sit on my father’s lap alongside all the other kids, and we’d listen to his versions of The Arabian Nights and Persian folktales. I think about that experience every time I sit to write a story. I want young readers to feel the same way.

  When I was a kid, the best stories came from a man named Abbas, who was the storyteller in his village. I would sit on my father’s lap alongside all the other kids, and we’d listen to his versions of The Arabian Nights and Persian folktales. I think about that experience every time I sit to write a story.”
  Do you read your work aloud as part of your writing/revision process?

  One of my favorite aspects of storytelling is to read it aloud and watch as the story changes slightly to suit the mood of the audience, the constraints of the environment, or the goals of the storyteller. In fact, I prefer it sometimes. If ever I’m asked to read a passage from my books, I find myself making edits on the fly and kick myself that I can’t change the printed versions.

  This is also why I love it when teachers and librarians share their read-aloud practice or encourage students by accepting audio books as “reading.” I know teachers are in a bind on that one. They still must encourage actual reading, after all. But to hold that in balance with the notion that stories can be experienced orally, I think is the ideal way forward.

  Work in progress
  Both these books are not only wonderful examples of storytelling, but they also address the nature of storytelling itself. In fact, at one point in Everything Sad Is Untrue, the young narrator responds to his teacher by saying that she is “beholden to a Western mode of storytelling.” Can you talk a little about some of the different modes of storytelling that have influenced your writing?

  The narrator is being a bit cheeky there when he says, “Western mode of storytelling.” In my mind he’s referring to class assignments kids have around his age that teach narrative structures like Freitag’s Pyramid, the Hero’s Journey, or Three-Act Structure. Here in the States, we develop such fine-tuned media literacy because of film/TV that we often hear things like, “The climax never paid off,” or “That story was nothing but exposition.” Those are technical terms that we’ve casualized because everyone understands what we mean when we say that. And I have to admit, I feel deeply satisfied when I see three-acts perfectly crafted.

  But there are other ways to experience stories, of course. The Arabian Nights doesn’t follow the structures I mentioned above. Authors like Italo Calvino (my favorite) often break those structures. The mixture of those two (oral tradition/folk tales/Arabian Nights and Calvino) are what made me love the more inventive forms.

  What suggestions do you have for educators and librarians who want to build that broader understanding of stories into their classroom discussions?

  I think a lesson on different story structures would be fascinating. In addition to Freytag’s Pyramid, Kurt Vonnegut had a series of “story shapes” that would be fun to discuss. Telling a story backwards, in pieces, or as a list are all fun ways to give students an engineer’s approach to constructing stories.

  Telling a story backwards, in pieces, or as a list are all fun ways to give students an engineer’s approach to constructing stories.”
  You mentioned you’re working on a picture book about a storyteller. What else would you like to share with your fans about your upcoming books?

  What an incredible idea, to have a readership out there. If that’s true, and they’re reading this, hello friend. I hope I’ve met your expectations, whatever they are. I’ve been working on a lot of stories within stories lately, where the frames shift as much as the pictures. I know that sounds vague, but I think they’ll be intriguing. There is the picture book about a storyteller in Iran. In the short thirty-two pages, we dive into the story, then out. There’s a graphic novel series coming that plays with the pulp stories that had hosts at the beginning to introduce the tales (like Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone) … but in this one, the hosts have their own story occurring at the same time as the individual episodes. Another upcoming picture book is entirely a palindrome.

  What’s your hope regarding these future stories?

  I hope readers, teachers, and librarians will always be able to grab one of my stories and say, “Now this one was ambitious.” Sometimes, the ambition is just to tell a perfectly polished story—what I call an “evolution on the norm.” And other times the ambition is to tell an inventive story that tries to create something new—what I call a “revolution of the form.” Evolutions or revolutions each time. I hope readers will help me stick to that.

  Connect With Daniel Nayeri

  What are the best ways for readers to connect with you or to follow you on social media?

  I’m easy to find @DanielNayeri in the various places. I only post on Fridays, so please excuse the delay.

  Website: https://www.danielnayeri.com/

• Shelf Awareness - https://www.shelf-awareness.com/dedicated-issue.html?issue=56#m333

  Wednesday, June 3 Dedicated Issue: Levine Querido

  Daniel Nayeri and the Entirely Biographical Everything Sad Is Untrue (a true story)

  Daniel Nayeri
  Daniel Nayeri was born in Iran and spent several years as a refugee before immigrating to Oklahoma at age eight with his family. He is an author, and the publisher of Odd Dot, an imprint of Macmillan. He lives with his wife and son in Jersey City, N.J.

  Please tell me about this book. The title, Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story), is quite remarkable. Is this biography?

  It's entirely biographical. In fact, the first version I wrote was a nonfiction essay for adults. But it didn't work. The heart of the story was from the perspective of a pre-teen. So, I chose to create that narrator. I changed some names, and I invented dialogue. But otherwise, I think of it as a memoir.

  It's the story of how my mother converted to Christianity, how we became refugees when she was caught by the Iranian secret police and how we ended up in Oklahoma.

  Khosrou (known to his neighbor Oklahomans as Daniel) has a distinct voice. How did you find this voice?

  The narrator is me, and so he bears many of the flaws of my character. He thinks he knows what's what, when the reader can tell otherwise. He begs when he hates to beg. He wants a friend but doesn't know how to be one. I think all these qualities are inherently funny in a pre-teen, standing in front of a mirror, flexing his arms at the world. He really and truly thinks he's strong enough to tell this story without weeping. I guess it's not funny ha-ha, but that's the sense of humor.

  Tell me about the format of the book. What made you want to fashion a protagonist after Scheherazade?

  Khosrou tells these stories--his family history, Persian folklore and the history of the country--to a fundamentally skeptical audience of classmates. This is the dynamic of Scheherazade in the One Thousand and One Nights, telling stories to the king. If she fails, she dies. If he fails, he dies the way kids die in middle school. He's hated and given wedgies until kingdom come. Eternal stakes for everybody.

  In your dedication you say, "I didn't know that life would make a liar out of me" and the first sentence of the book is "All Persians are liars and lying is a sin." How do you want readers to feel when they first start this book? How do you want them to feel when they finish?

  At the beginning, I want them to love the narrator out of pity. By the end I want them to love him as a friend.

  It is so easy to read that first line, "All Persians are liars, and lying is a sin," as a uniquely Persian problem. But that's not what the line says. It's referring to Epimenides, the philosopher, who would hold up a sign that said, "All Cretans are liars." The paradox is that Epimenides was himself a Cretan.

  The book is immediately asking the reader not to lie to themselves. Not to dare believe they are any better. Not to omit themselves from the guilt. And from there it sets out to convince the reader that strictly speaking, all our memories are lies we tell ourselves.

  --Siân Gaetano, children's and YA editor, Shelf Awareness

• Wikipedia -

  Daniel Nayeri

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  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  Daniel Nayeri

  Born
  Iran
  Alma mater New York University
  Notable works Everything Sad Is Untrue
  Notable awards
  Michael L. Printz Award (2020)
  Walter Dean Myers Award (2020)
  Christopher Award (2021)
  Newbery Honor (2024)
  Relatives Dina Nayeri
  Website
  www.danielnayeri.com
  Daniel Nayeri is an Iranian-American author. His 2020 autobiographical novel, Everything Sad Is Untrue, received a Michael L. Printz Award, a Walter Dean Myers Award, a Christopher Award, and a Newbery Award.

  Biography
  Nayeri was born in Iran, and fled the country with his sister Dina, and their mother, a doctor, after a fatwa had been issued against her.[1][2][3] They lived for three years in refugee camps in Dubai and Rome before settling in 1990—when Nayeri was eight years old—in Edmond, Oklahoma.[1][2] Nayeri attended Edmond Memorial High School, and New York University, where he studied writing.[2]

  Nayeri was publisher of Odd Dot, a children's publishing group at Macmillan Publishers, before leaving in 2020 to pursue full-time writing.[4]

  Nayeri lives with his wife and son in New Jersey.[2]

  Works
  Nayeri's printed works include:[5]

  The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story, 2025
  Mirror Town, 2023
  The Many Assassinations Of Samir, The Seller Of Dreams, 2023
  Everything Sad Is Untrue, 2020
  Sasha And Puck And The Brew For Brainwash, 2020
  Sasha And Puck And The Potion Of Luck, 2021
  Sasha And Puck And The Cure For Courage, 2019
  Sasha And Puck And The Cordial Cordial, 2019
  The Most Dangerous Book : An Illustrated Introduction To Archery, 2017
  How To Tell A Story, 2015
  Another Jekyll, Another Hyde, 2013
  Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow, 2011
  Another Pan, 2010
  Another Faust, 2009
  Awards
  In 2020, Everything Sad Is Untrue received a Michael L. Printz Award for best book written for teens,[6] and was one of two honorees in the younger readers category for a Walter Dean Myers Award.[7] In 2021, the book received a Christopher Award in the young adult category,[8] and was a finalist for an Audie Award for Young Adult Title.[9] In 2023, the book was nominated for a Young Reader's Choice Award.[10]

  Everything Sad Is Untrue was listed as one of the best children's books of 2020 by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Today, and Booklist Editors' Choice.[11][12][13][14]

  In 2024, The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams was selected as a Newbery Honor book.[15]

  In 2025, "The Teacher of Nomad Land" won the National Book Award in the category Young People's Literature. [16]

Nayeri, Dina ANOTHER JEKYLL, ANOTHER HYDE Candlewick (Children's Fiction) $17.99 3, 27 ISBN: 978-0-7636-5261-6

One of the Marlowe students finds his internal conflicts becoming all-too external, Jekyll-and-Hyde style, in the conclusion to the Another- series. Following his sudden break-up with Belle Faust in Another Faust (2009), Thomas Goodman-Brown hasn't been the same. Everyone thinks him constantly intoxicated (without justification; it's only occasional), but really he's reeling from the after-effects of the magic the Faust children used on him. A combination of his presumed guilt and the strain of his father's marriage to the missing Belle's governess Nicola Vileroy leads to Thomas' acceptance of a mystery drug at a club. Soon, Thomas is blacking out, students are being attacked and Vileroy drops a bombshell: There's a new stepbrother for Thomas, apart from her adopted Faust children. With help from briefly returning Another Faust and Another Pan (2010) characters, Thomas slowly pieces together how his troubles tie into Vileroy's motives. The prose is peppered with delightfully witty one-liners--the humor goes a long way toward keeping Thomas likable. The narration mostly follows Thomas, creating a focus that both enables his believable disorientation from the drug and allows his personal risks to elevate the story's tension. The preludes at chapter beginnings complete the story of who and what Vileroy is, building upon each other until questions raised by the previous novels have been answered. A high-stakes conclusion that satisfies. (Fantasy. 14 & up)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Nayeri, Dina: ANOTHER JEKYLL, ANOTHER HYDE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2012. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A279908012/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7c1c15ed. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

NAYERI, Daniel & Dina Nayeri. Another Jekyll, Another Hyde. Bk. 3. 250p. (Another Series). Candlewick. Mar. 2012. Tr $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5261-6; ebook $17.99. ISBN 978-0-7636-5623-2. LG number unavailable.

Gr 8 Up-Madame Vileroy is as evil as ever. She is joined by several other characters from Another Faust (2009) and Another Pan (2010, both Candlewick) as she returns to the exclusive prep school Marlowe Academy. The demon-governess is once again stalking wealthy New York teens, putting their lives and souls at risk so that she can achieve immortality. Her newest victims are golden boy Thomas Goodman-Brown and his billionaire father. Using her powers of persuasion and deception, Vileroy becomes, much to Thomas's horror, his stepmother. Once installed in the GoodmanBrown mansion, she begins implementing her plan to destroy Thomas's soul and mind and resurrect the son she herself murdered centuries earlier. But Thomas may prove to be far stronger and more resourceful than Vileroy suspects. Though occasionally frustratingly stupid, he is a likable character, and the story provides enough suspense and mystery to keep readers engaged. However, many teens will be lost in several places if they haven't read the previous volumes, and the authors' attempts to fill in the backstory feel awkward and are not fully illuminating. Recommended where the series is popular.--Anthony C. Doyle, Livingston High School, CA

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Doyle, Anthony C. "Nayeri, Daniel & Dina Nayeri. Another Jekyll, Another Hyde." School Library Journal, vol. 58, no. 3, Mar. 2012, p. 169. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A282425693/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=67ce5545. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel, and Dina Nayeri. Another

Jekyll, Another Hyde. Candlewick, 2012.

400p. $17.99. 978-0763652616.

Thomas, once popular and involved within his exclusive high school, is now undergoing counseling after his girlfriend, Belle, suddenly dumps him to supposedly study abroad with her siblings in this Another series finale. Worse, Belle's alluring governess, Nicola, marries Thomas's widowed father, adeptly separating them while inserting herself into Thomas's private life. Had he not been perpetually high from pills offered while clubbing, Thomas would have realized earlier each pill was increasingly allowing Nicola's son, Edward, possession of his body. His death allows Nicola, an ancient demon, and Edward's continued immortality. As Edward, Thomas suffers blackouts and commits a vicious hate crime, but forces his own intelligence and cunning to surface, slowly overpowering him. In between battling Edward and Nicola, Thomas locates Belle and her siblings, and in an unexpected and shocking act, risks all to destroy the evil duo. His success is discovered in the unforeseen, delicious final twist.

Loosely based on the Jekyll and Hyde story, the text moves throughout time and uses both third- and first-person narrative to relay the main story, Nicola's thoughts and fascinating historical encounters, Thomas's journal, and his struggles with Edward. Essentially a stand-alone novel, its first chapters assume backstory--confusing until the focus moves to Thomas and his revisiting past events. Fast-paced and difficult to put down, this exciting story will satisfy fans and likely gain new readers for the series.--Lisa Hazlett.

book review code

QUALITY

5Q Hard to imagine it being better witten

4Q Beter than most, marred only by occasional lapses.

3Q Readable, without serious defects.

2Q Hard to understand how it got published, except in relation to its P rating (and not even then sometimes).

POPULARITY

5P Every YA (who reads) was dying to read it yesterday.

4P Broad general or genre YA appeal.

3P Will appeal with pushing.

2P For the YA reader with the special interest in the subject.

1P No YA will read unless forced to for assignments.

GRADE LEVEL INTEREST

M Middle School (define as grades 6-8)

J Junior High (define as grades 7-9)

S Senior High (define as grades 10-12)

A/YA Adult-marketed book recommended for YAs.

** Highlightened Reviews

(G) Graphic Novel Format

Hazlett, Lisa

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2012 E L Kurdyla Publishing LLC
http://www.voya.com
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Hazlett, Lisa. "Nayeri, Daniel, and Dina Nayeri. Another Jekyll, Another Hyde." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 35, no. 1, Apr. 2012, p. 78. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A286718369/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f4ff0ff7. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel

How to Tell a Story

Workman Publishing, 2015, pp144, 14.99 [pounds sterling]

978 0 7611 8457 7

This is an interesting boxed set of one book and 20 story blocks, which is different from most story cube sets. Each story block face has a picture with a different background colour, with each colour representing a different part of speech. The book explains the different elements of storytelling introducing different ways to use the story blocks (e.g. take two blues and describe a scuffle between them in the playground) to generate exercises in storytelling to stir the imagination.

The style is very jokey, but manages to cover much ground and does give a useful outline of the elements of a story, how they relate together and why it's important to have the different parts. As a writer I would happily use them with the book for exercises to spark off my writing day. Some of the pictures are not immediately obvious as to what they represent, but there is a handy chart at the front and back of the book, and over time you could learn them or assign your own meaning. The teacher may prefer to use the book to make worksheets for younger pupils to work with, but older pupils would be able to work with the book.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2016 The School Library Association
http://www.sla.org.uk/school-librarian.php
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Dowling, Janet. "Nayeri, Daniel: How to Tell a Story." School Librarian, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2016, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A448568688/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=249c4088. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Daniel Nayeri came to the U.S. from Iran when he was eight years old. Finding comfort and confusion in classic works--he loved the clarity of Richard Scarry but found Dr. Seuss mind-boggling ("I couldn't always tell the made-up words from the real ones"), he recalls how empowering it was when an elementary teacher allowed him to count his "Transformers" books toward his summer reading goal. Now the director of children's publishing for Workman, the endlessly energetic Nayeri leads a unique team mandated to create not just books, but also "great art objects for great and terrible children."

Tell us about this mandate.

"Art object" means that we care enough about our books to call them art. We're not an in-house packager of commodities. But at the same time, we know that to a kid, a good fart joke is an art form. So we're not too pretentious about it, either.

What was your guiding vision when you came to Workman?

My model is extremely team-oriented, extremely people-oriented. [We function] like a little studio inside of a publishing company. First, I went talent shopping. I wanted to know who the best art designer in the industry is. And I found Colleen AF Venable. She had been at First Second at the time....So I called her up--I didn't actually know her yet--and asked her for three hours of her time. Just three hours to pitch her on this idea. And then, [I asked her to] give me five years. I wanted to see if, in five years, we could make a division that does things people haven't seen before. We did the same thing for pretty much everyone in the group. They were all chosen with great fear and trembling.

What's a typical creative meeting look like?

There's a group of eight--the brain trust--and we meet on Tuesdays. I consider it my job to make that room the most productive, creative space it can possibly be. The team is made up of designers as well as an in-house inventor. We'll come up with an idea and if it's good enough, we'll immediately start iterating a prototype. Often it involves 3-D modeling and 3-D printing. Sometimes it will involve physically cutting down other books and making them into the shape and size we want.... This is all happening before any contracts are in place. [We rely on] that cliche from the tech industry: fail fast! Get to a place where you're experiencing the book as soon as possible. It's very design-first.

Tell us about a recent project you're proud of.

I'm so excited about our "Spy on History" books. What if, as you're reading about someone who's excellent at something, you are also becoming better at that thing? So if you read a biography of Michael Jordan, you are not also, necessarily, becoming better at basketball. But, if you read our book on Mary Bowser, you actually are becoming better at spying. Mary Bowser is one of the most criminally ignored figures, who was instrumental in helping win the Civil War. She got memos from Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis, encrypted them, and smuggled them out in the linings of Mrs. Davis's skirts. She has this action movie of a life. So our question was, while you're learning about her, can you also be doing something? We had to study cryptology and layer in codes into the design and narrative.

There's this belief that children's publishing is a kinder and more welcoming culture than adult publishing. Is that true?

Sure, to some extent.... But for someone like me, I don't necessarily fit in a lot of ways. I hear things like "He's a young man in a hurry! " And I hear [myself described] as "brash" quite a bit. But ... there's a good reason I tasted both [children's publishing and adult publishing] and firmly grasped on to children's literature.

Kiera Parrott is reviews director for School Library Journal and Library Journal.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/
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Parrott, Kiera. "The man with a plan: Daniel Nayeri on his highly design-centered, studio approach to kid lit." School Library Journal, vol. 63, no. 1, Jan. 2017, p. 22. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A476559416/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=65081c6c. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel THE MOST DANGEROUS BOOK Workman (Children's Informational) $22.95 10, 31 ISBN: 978-1-5235-0119-9

A historical overview of archery with a cut-in grip and sturdy plastic wings that unfold to form an actual bow--punch-out cardboard arrows and targets included.

Nayeri opens what he optimistically calls his "weapon of mass instruction" by arguing--rightly, if not exactly cogently--that a bow-shaped book is less dangerous than a bad or careless idea. He continues with a worldwide survey of archery in, mostly, war from ancient times on. Along with cartoon portraits of single archers and battle scenes featuring comically pin-cushioned soldiers, all diverse of skin color and in period dress, Jung adds simple depictions of various types of bows and arrows from many lands and eras. Following a final chapter on Robin Hood and other archers of both myth and legend, 43 blunt, lightweight, detachable arrows, each about 1 1/2 inches long, and 10 chicken butts or other small targets of diminishing size offer would-be Katniss Everdeens immediate opportunities to develop their skills on a tabletop or similarly confined range. But as the author admits, this is more a slingshot than a true bow, as the recurved arms don't actually bend, and all of the propulsive force is provided by the elastic string. Also, enterprising young felons will doubtless ignore his prohibition against shooting at live targets, so even though the "draw" is (probably) too weak to actually drive the provided missiles into, say, an eyeball, there is still some small potential for mayhem.

The historical narrative is of mild interest, but the incorporated toy is off-target in several ways. (bibliography) (Informational novelty. 8-10)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
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"Nayeri, Daniel: THE MOST DANGEROUS BOOK." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A516024656/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b8805907. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel SASHA AND PUCK AND THE POTION OF LUCK Whitman (Children's Fiction) $14.99 3, 1 ISBN: 978-0-8075-7242-9

The daughter of an apothecary with a sideline in iffy potions tries to use both science and sleuthing to keep her father out of trouble.

Sure (fairly sure) that the luck potion her father sells to recently arrived chocolatier Letty Kozlow is bogus, young Sasha sets out to help it along--using her detective skills to determine which of three potential beaus would make the best match for the kindly but secretive shop owner. Along the way she picks up an odd, grubby, cherubic sidekick she dubs Puck and runs into several village residents ranging from mean rich girl Sisal to aptly named Granny Yenta and her (supposedly) magic rooster. This series opener being a setup episode, Nayeri makes Sasha's snooping and clue gathering a vehicle for introducing an ensemble with some characters, notably Puck and probably Ms. Kozlow, likely more than they seem. The world beyond the otherwise unnamed Village and a larger storyline (Sasha's mom is currently away battling the evil Order of Disorder) are merely sketched out now but are sure to come into play later on. For now, though, the focus is localized to, considering the names, clothes, and a reference to rusalkas, a vaguely Slavic setting. In keeping with the cast's array of types, the wide-eyed, olive-skinned figures in Mak's frequent illustrations have a Disney-esque look.

An engaging kickoff well-stocked with vivid characters, yummy chocolates, and tantalizing hints of magic. (map) (Fantasy. 9-11)

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"Nayeri, Daniel: SASHA AND PUCK AND THE POTION OF LUCK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573768888/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=67870bea. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story)

Daniel Nayeri. Levine Querido, $17.99 (368p) ISBN 978-1-64614-000-8

Marked by a distinctive voice--a straightforward mix of confiding, slyly humorous, and unsentimentally sorrowful--Nayeri's (Straw House, Wood House, Brick House, Blow) impressive autobiographical novel is narrated by 12-year-old Khosrou, known as Daniel, who models himself after the legendary Scheherazade. The chapterless "patchwork story" follows Daniel through his dreamlike early childhood in Iran, a year in an Italian refugee camp with his sister and "unstoppable" mother (but without his larger-than-life father, who chose to stay behind), and their eventual asylum in Oklahoma. The text moves nimbly back and forth in time, depicting with equal vividness ancient Persian tales (a jasmine-scented village with saffron fields, courtyards, and fountains), family history (a legendary ancestral doctor), and the challenges of navigating life as an outsider in "a land of concrete and weathermen." Interspersed with his experiences is the narrator's accumulated wisdom on a broad range of subjects--cultural differences in bathroom habits, the creation of Persian rugs, the roots of today's conflicts between Shiites and Sunnis--which help establish Daniel's identity as a knowledgeable, thoughtful storyteller. Mesmerizing and hard-hitting at once, this work of personal mythology is a rare treasure of a book. Ages 10-up. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary. (Aug.)

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"Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story)." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 24, 15 June 2020, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A628069406/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=36faa563. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Daniel Nayeri; EVERYTHING SAD IS UNTRUE; Levine Querido (Children's: Juvenile Fiction) 17.99 ISBN: 9781646140008

Byline: Camille-Yvette Welsch

"A patchwork story is the shame of a refugee," says twelve-year-old Daniel, an Iranian refugee in Oklahoma with his sister, mother, and stepfather. The tale of what brought him to the buckle of the Bible Belt, to Tornado Alley and bullying kids, twists magically across countries, through religions, and around Persian history and myth, resulting in Everything Sad Is Untrue, a story of heartbreak and resilience.

Nayeri presents himself as a tween Scheherazade, telling stories to spoiled despotic children who rule the schoolyard. In these stories, he brings together what he can remember from his life in Iran -- where his father was a beloved dentist, his mother a doctor, and his grandfathers were imposing men. Every story intersects with history from a 6,000 year old culture. The circuitous nature of his storytelling alienates his classmates, making him even more of an outsider, unable to piece together who he is and who he wants to be.

The narration is by turns wounded, hopeful, funny, and angry. Daniel tries to say what he knows to be true, about everything from poop to blood to the food that people eat. He catalogs what a twelve-year-old boy notices -- including a pretty girl with a mean heart and a short, round father with winning ways -- as a way to better understand himself. He grows in his ability to understand people -- including his mother, whose drive moves them from Islam to Christianity, from Iran to the UAE to Italy, and finally to the US. She is the unstoppable force whom he comes to see clearly by the book's end.

Daniel also reveals the character of every setting, from Iran's tiled homes to Italy's refugee camps, through small details of plenty and austerity alike, just how they impact a child. Poignant and powerful, Everything Sad Is Untrue brings alive the patchwork that becomes not shame, but a vivid carpet in the right hands.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 Foreword Magazine, Inc.
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Welsch, Camille-Yvette. "Everything Sad Is Untrue; A True Story." ForeWord, 27 June 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A627992070/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=76d576fb. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story). By Daniel Nayeri. Aug. 2020. 368p. Levine Querido, $17.99 (9781646140008). Gr. 7-12.

"A patchwork story is the shame of a refugee." It's with this refrain that 12-year-old Khosrou, known as Daniel to his skeptical Oklahoman classmates, tells "a version" of his life story. In the tradition of 1,001 Nights Scheherazade, he gathers up the loose strands of his memory, weaving short personal vignettes into the Persian histories, myths, and legends that are his ancestry. The result is a winding series of digressions that takes the reader on a journey as intimate as it is epic, knitting together a tale of Daniel's youth in Iran, the perilous flight from home with his sister and mother, and their oppressive new beginning as refugees in Oklahoma. It's a story heavy with loss (of home, of his left-behind father, of innocence), light with humor and love (for his mother, the "unstoppable force"), rich in culture and language (and, somehow, never sentimental). Walking the line between fiction and non-, this is a kind of meta-memoir, a story about the stories that define us. It's a novel, narrated conversationally--and poetically--by a boy reaching for the truth in his fading youth. Nayeri challenges outright what young readers can handle, in form and content, but who can deny him when it's his own experience on display? He demands much of readers, but in return he gives them everything. A remarkable work that raises the literary bar in children's lit.--Ronny Khuri

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 American Library Association
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Khuri, Ronny. "Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story)." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 21, 1 July 2020, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632532895/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=50616f83. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

NAYERI, Daniel. Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story). 368p. Levine Querido. Aug. 2020. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781646140008.

Gr 4-8- Nayeri weaves stories within stories in this fictionalized account of his formative years. He shares layers of rich information about life in Iran, refugee camps, and his experiences as an immigrant in the United States during the late 20th century. The themes of family, love, and truth are as strong as those of faith, endurance, memory, and storytelling as Khosrou (also known as Daniel) tries to tell the tales of his beautiful, complicated life and family. Nayeri provides clues about other characters without overexplaining them. Tough issues are discussed, particularly domestic violence, bullying, and life as a refugee and an immigrant, but there is levity, too. Khosrou's thoughts on Manwich sloppy joe sauce, using toilets in the U.S., and his father's overindulgence in Twinkies all lighten this tale. Without being didactic, the text communicates the universality of the human experience and the lack of empathy shown by some, not all, of those he encounters in the U.S. and in the refugee environments. The strongest developed characters are Daniel and his mother; however, readers experience varying levels of complexities of other characters like Daniel's father, stepfather, sister, teacher, and his friends (and enemies). VERDICT At once beautiful and painful, this timely story is highly recommended for middle grade readers.--Hilary Writt, formerly at Sullivan Univ., Lexington, KY

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Writt, Hilary. "NAYERI, Daniel. Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story)." School Library Journal, vol. 66, no. 7, July 2020, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A629053920/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6804b7e7. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

HOST: AILSA CHANG

AILSA CHANG: And I love a well-woven tale.

DANIEL NAYERI: (Reading) All Persians are liars, and lying is a sin. My mom says it's true but only because everyone has sinned and needs God to save them. My dad says it isn't. Persians aren't liars; they're poets, which is worse. Poets don't even know when they're lying. They're just trying to remember their dreams. They're trying to remember 6,000 years of history and all the versions of all the stories ever told. In one version, maybe I'm not the refugee kid in the back of Mrs. Miller's class. I'm a prince in disguise.

CHANG: That is Daniel Nayeri reading from his new book "Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story)." It's about growing up in Oklahoma as an Iranian refugee. He lives with his mother and sister, his stepfather Ray. And because Daniel's the only Persian student his classmates know, he's the butt of jokes and the target of bullies. But these indignities at school are actually some of the lighter moments in an autobiographical novel that explores what it feels like to part ways with your home country and with your father.

Daniel Nayeri, I am so glad to be speaking with you about this book.

NAYERI: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.

CHANG: So we don't know exactly why at the beginning of this story, but you, your sister and mother flee Iran. You make your way to a refugee camp in Italy, and then you land in Oklahoma, where most of this book takes place. What was your first impression of Oklahoma when you first arrived? Do you even remember?

NAYERI: I do. I remember for two very particular reasons. One is the very first morning, we woke up, and the wonderful woman who had taken us in had served sandwiches. We had slept in. I was very jet-lagged. And on the plate were these chips I had never seen before. And they were all the same shape, and they nested into one another. And I could not believe that America had chips like this. But they were, of course, Pringles, which...

CHANG: You're talking about Pringles, right?

NAYERI: I'm talking - yeah. The discovery of Pringles the first day in America was shocking. And then that day, she was very kind. She took us to a grocery store and then to Toys R Us. To this day, I'm chasing that high of shelf after shelf of peanut butter and toys, and it seemed like paradise.

CHANG: Oh, my God. Well, it was paradise maybe that first day. But you make it very clear that it wasn't paradise throughout your childhood. Can you just, you know, paint a picture for us of what life was like for young Daniel in those early days, all the trials and tribulations? Like, how different did you feel from all the other kids around you?

NAYERI: Yeah. The food is great. And unfortunately, when you're a refugee in a place that's a little bit more homogenous, I think the first question you end up getting asked over and over again is, what are you doing here? And you end up having to tell the story over and over again, which is sort of where my love of storytelling began.

It wasn't very easy. My mother was working multiple jobs. She was a doctor in Iran but was stripped of that when we came to the United States and so took a lot of menial labor jobs. And I worked at night. And so we ended up having to fend for ourselves a little bit.

CHANG: And we should make it clear that your mom and you and your sister - you couldn't have stayed in Iran because your mom had converted from Islam to Christianity, which was a crime.

NAYERI: Yes, of - she had. She had sort of joined the underground church, and her apostasy is a capital crime in Iran. So she ran afoul of the secret police there, ominously named the committee - the committee. And we had to leave very, very quickly. Yes.

CHANG: Well, there is a disturbing parallel between the beatings that you suffer at school and the physical abuse your mom suffers at the hands of your stepfather, Ray.

NAYERI: Yeah.

CHANG: What was striking for me was that in this book, you're really matter-of-fact about the violence against your mom. I mean, you talk about it, obviously, from the perspective of a child. You talk about going to the ER a lot. What you don't talk about in this book is your opinion of Ray as a person so much. And I was wondering - why was that?

NAYERI: Well, for the longest time growing up, I thought Ray was my fault. You know, I thought - there was such a strong conception that we had lost our father. He had stayed in Iran. And you know, Daniel needed a father figure.

And so I thought my mom was sort of enduring a lot of this because then some lessons of manhood had to be imparted to me. And in order for them to be imparted to me by Ray, that was the cost of having him around. And so for the longest time as a kid - certainly in that time period when I was writing it - I thought she was sort of going back and always taking Ray back because it was sort of - it was intended to sort of make my life better.

CHANG: Your mom - I mean, she emerges as the hero of this story. She, as you say, is this unstoppable force. That is what you call her. What kept her going, you think, if you could put that in words?

NAYERI: You know, the answer to your question of why is the center of the book. This whole book doesn't happen if my mother doesn't give up everything in the world - her medical practice, her very high social standing, her marriage, her family, her home, her home country. Why does she give up all of it, and for what? What is the thing that is most valuable?

My mother converted to Christianity because that is her belief. You cannot look at her and take that part of her lightly because it was very clearly not a cultural agreement. It was not a passive idea. It was something for which all of it was relinquished. A life being very well-to-do in Iran becomes a life of abject poverty and abuse. And she will tell you she would do it all over again. To that end, the book even says, when you look at her, you have to say, wow, this person is completely unhinged and crazy, or there is something that she has deeply and sincerely valued above all this. And that is her faith.

CHANG: Well, your story - you know, it moves back and forth through time. And at one point, you say - I'm going to quote you here - a patchwork memory is the shame of a refugee. What did you mean by that?

NAYERI: Well, when we look at family histories, we often use metaphors of the family line or the family tree. And what that really implies is the collective effort of keeping family tradition and family memories alive, right? When you - your uncle might pull you aside in the holidays and gift you his dad's pocketknife, or your grandfather might pull you aside and teach you how to, you know, make yogurt properly.

Whatever these traditions, these ideas are, they're a linear path. And when you take one chunk of the family - a small chunk - and immediately remove them, you're breaking that line. And I think it is a shame to be so unclaimed - this idea that the collective work that any family does of telling each other their own story can't be done. There is no text that we can weave together anymore.

CHANG: Daniel Nayeri's new book is called "Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story)."

Thank you so much for being with us. I so enjoyed your book and this talk.

NAYERI: Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here.

(SOUNDBITE OF EMPRESS OF SONG, "TRISTEZA (DELOREAN REMIX)")

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2020 All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions page at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by a contractor for NPR, and accuracy and availability may vary. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Please be aware that the authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio.
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"'Everything Sad Is Untrue' Is Funny And Sad And (Mostly) True." All Things Considered, 2 Sept. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A634739471/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=28bb1c2e. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS Levine Querido (Children's None) $21.99 3, 7 ISBN: 978-1-64614-303-0

A servant boy attempts to win his freedom by repeatedly saving his master as they travel the Silk Road.

At roughly age 12, Omar has led a hard life, having lost both his parents and the woman who cared for him after their deaths and now being chased away by the monks who once housed him for asking too many questions. For the price of six bolts of silk, they hand him off to Samir, a fellow Sogdian who calls himself the Seller of Dreams. Renamed Monkey, he is tasked with assisting Samir in trading. As the two head west with a large caravan across the Taklamakan Desert toward present-day Tajikistan, Monkey learns Samir's business tricks, though he often disapproves. He also meets blacksmith's assistant Mara, the most beautiful girl he's ever seen. Soon, though, it becomes clear that Samir faces more problems than just making the next deal: He has wronged more than one person along the road, and assassins are after him. What follows is Monkey's account of Samir's brushes with death--and how Monkey himself may have contributed to Samir's eventual demise. Filled with the multicultural hustle and bustle of the Silk Road, enlivened by the unpredictable nature of unreliable storytellers, and adorned with whimsical, colorful illustrations, this is a strange, wondrous, and creative tale. Can family be found along the Silk Road, or will everyone ultimately betray you?

An enticing taste of a rich historical world. (author's note, bibliography) (Adventure. 9-12)

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"Nayeri, Daniel: THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A731562186/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5a326efe. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams

Daniel Nayeri, illus. by Daniel Miyares. Levine Querido, $21.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-64614-303-0 Orphaned novice monk Omar is saved from stoning at the hands of his order at the start of this cleverly consttucted adventure centering two Sogdian protagonists. For the dubious equivalent of six bolts of silk, the monks trade the approximately 12-year-old child to Samir, a savvy traveling merchant known as The Seller of Dreams. As their caravan family travels the Silk Road, moving from caravanserais to cities to oases across the Taklamakan Desert en route to Samarkand, Omar, now called Monkey, observes how Samir's dealings have earned more enemies than riches. Fearing for his own fate as a series of hired assassins tracks Samir, and beginning to intuit the man's underlying kindness, Monkey attempts to thwart the killers, each time moving closer to gaining his freedom. Regular acknowledgements of Monkey's involvement in Samir's eventual death accompany an ongoing chain of trades and catastrophes, creating page-turning narrative tension. Nayeri blends playful humor, solid pacing, and fully realized charactets into a witty, assassin-studded traveler's yarn that also serves as a memorable, lively portrait of the 11th-century Silk Road. Richly hued art by Miyares and expansive back matter enhance the delight. Ages 8-12. Author's agent: Joanne Volpe, New Leaf Literary, Illustrator's agent: Judy Sue Goodwin St urges and April Jones Prince. Studio Goodwin Sturges. (Mar.)

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2023 PWxyz, LLC
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"The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 5, 30 Jan. 2023, pp. 67+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A737039794/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bf4fa950. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

In Daniel Nayeri's new middle grade novel, a runaway orphan boy joins a caravan and falls under the sway of its loquacious leader.

THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS, by Daniel Nayeri. Illustrated by Daniel Miyares.

Forget Botox, diets, oils, lotions. Humanity discovered the antidote to aging millenniums ago: storytelling. In the narrating and the hearing of a story, in the creating and the disseminating of a story (and, one hopes, in the reviewing), everyone is young again.

Your body comes alive with frissons and goosebumps; your heart pumps out laughter and tears; your imagination sprints from image to memory and back again. You gasp at a plot twist in a dog-eared tale the way your tongue exults at the salt in a dish you have eaten a hundred times. It may not be new, but it always feels fresh. Like magic.

Daniel Nayeri understands this relationship between storytelling and magic, and finds every opportunity to celebrate it. His latest novel, ''The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams,'' is about a motley crew journeying thousands of kilometers along the Silk Road, from one end of Asia to another, selling and buying various wares and working hard to stay alive. The Silk Road, Nayeri writes in his author's note, is ''just about the most magical place I can imagine. I have dreamed of it for most of my life.''

While magic and dreams sound like ingredients for pure, childlike fantasy, ''The Many Assassinations'' is historical fiction, with background information and a bibliography at the end. Plot-wise, though, it's adventurous, funny and nimble.

A 12-year-old runaway joins a caravan of traders who are making their way across the Taklamakan Desert in China, and becomes a servant to its loquacious leader, Samir. This man, who names the youngster Monkey, turns out to be a corrupt fellow whom many angry merchants want to kill. The book is the story of those attempted assassinations, and how both Samir and his protégé survive them ... until a clever plot twist is revealed.

Nayeri regularly educates his readers about the Silk Road. A guessing game regarding religion invokes the Mussalmans, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, pagans, Sikhs and an ''almost-Zoroastrian.'' Characters play an ancient form of chess called ''shatranj.'' Monkey addresses his master as ''Saheeb,'' whose etymology traverses Arabic, Persian and Urdu.

Nayeri is unerringly precise in his vocabulary: ''It was midday at a caravanserai -- which you probably know is a station beside the roads where caravans rest,'' Monkey explains. During a fight, a knife wound elicits a ''wattle'' of blood.

In a testy exchange while huddled behind a rock to avoid being blown up, Monkey is chastised for not knowing who Erkhii Mergen is. Another character provides an answer, making sure to mock Monkey at the same time: ''The legendary Mongol archer? ... Shot out six of the seven suns that were scorching the earth and that's why we only have one sun? Never mind. It's a folktale.''

''It's a folktale.'' The many chapters in ''The Many Assassinations'' are windows into the social and cultural lives of Silk Road traders: not just what they traded, but also how they participated in its lively literary (and multilingual) traditions. Stories were peddled up and down the Silk Road as frequently as the paper and ink used to collect them. In this particular book, Nayeri has entrusted them to a resilient boy and his dream-selling teacher.

From the beginning, Monkey hints to his readers to be attentive to the details, and simultaneously open to all the possibilities a story can hold.

''I'm just a kid telling you about the life and death of my last master,'' he shrugs. ''It's a story that will hopefully satisfy you, so that you will let me go.''

Monkey is a scrappy scrabbler, orphaned and opportunistic, who learns quickly that a story can just as easily get you out of trouble as put you in it.

Is his the voice of a naïve adolescent or a practiced hustler? Is this an honest account or a bespoke forgery? What is more revealing, the story itself or how it is being told? Asked another way, to which details should Nayeri's readers be paying attention? The story of Monkey and his caravan, or the story Monkey is telling us about his caravan? The story, or the story of the story?

Stories about stories go farther back than the Silk Road -- and likely traveled along it as well. From the East, consider Hinduism's ''Mahabharata'' (fourth century) and Islam's ''The Thousand and One Nights'' (ninth century). From the West, Homer's epics, Proust's ''In Search of Lost Time'' and any one of Shakespeare's plays. In the sciences, Galileo framed his 17th-century critique of planetary science as a conversation between three characters; the book is titled ''Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems'' and transforms his intellectual skepticism into an informal chat.

In children's literature, two Salman Rushdie novels are centered on storytelling: ''Haroun and the Sea of Stories'' and ''Luka and the Fire of Life.''

It seems noteworthy that Monkey is the same age as Rushdie's Luka and Nayeri's Khosrou, the protagonist of his previous, autobiographical novel, ''Everything Sad Is Untrue.'' These boys are young, scattered, playful, impatient. Ideal narrators to do two things at once: tell us a story and tell us that they're telling us a story, with asides, questions and inaccuracies.

Nayeri said in an interview that he wanted to present Khosrou as someone who ''never takes a breath; he's desperate to tell everything. He's racing against time -- meaning he's racing against you losing interest in him. He's got you by the scruff and he has to hold on.''

This applies beautifully to Monkey as well: Both boys are trying to win over an audience using stories. It is stories that keep them connected to the people they love, stories that define and reassure them, stories that are the key to their freedom.

For much of Nayeri's own childhood, freedom seemed out of reach. He escaped from Iran with his mother and his sister, Dina, when he was 6. They went first to the United Arab Emirates, then spent time in a refugee camp on the outskirts of Rome before being granted asylum in the United States and moving to Oklahoma when he was 8. Interestingly, both siblings have become writers.

Not every aspect of ''The Many Assassinations'' is impactful. Daniel Miyares's paintings are vivid and fluid, but prefacing each chapter, they pre-empt readers from conjuring up their own images based on the fantastical words. Monkey clarifies early on why he fled an order of monks whose ''whole world was black or white'': ''After all, love is red.'' Maybe this is the reason all the paintings include the color red? If so, the inside reference is too subtle for young readers, as it may even be for adults.

What Nayeri gets right is the novel's raconteur. Monkey knows when to tell a joke and when to make a confession. He knows how to paint a picture and imbue it with sound, how to convey the plot as well as its reasons, handle the magic and its philosophy, build the story and its dreamscape. Most important, he knows how to twist the truth to serve his self-interest while feeding longed-for flavors to a hungry audience. Monkey is loyal to Samir because he wants to be as skilled as his master at transacting stories.

By the end, he seems fated to become the next Samir, bartering sacks of infinite possibilities for spices, bird feathers and gunpowder; continuing to care for the magic and dreams that propel his caravan from one place to another. Will he?

If Nayeri's next novel features another plucky young migrant in narrative orbit, whose words can rotate and revolve at the same time, then maybe it is possible.

Aditi Sriram teaches writing at Ashoka University. She is the author of ''Beyond the Boulevards: A Short Biography of Pondicherry.''

THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS | By Daniel Nayeri | Illustrated by Daniel Miyares | 224 pp. | Levine Querido | $21.99 | Ages 8 to 12

Aditi Sriram teaches writing at Ashoka University. She is the author of ''Beyond the Boulevards: A Short Biography of Pondicherry.''

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Sriram, Aditi. "Peddling Stories on the Silk Road." The New York Times Book Review, 5 Mar. 2023, p. 18(L). Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A739568683/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5c50c1bd. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

NAYERI, Daniel. The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams, illus. by Daniel Miyares. 224p. Levine Querido. Mar. 2023. Tr $21.99. ISBN 9781646143030.

Gr 4-8--This delightful adventure along the 11 th-century Silk Road opens with its 12-year-old narrator, Omar (soon called Monkey), fleeing for his life from the monks who had once sheltered him. Monkey is saved by Samir, a merchant traveling in a caravan, who buys him from the monks for six bolts of silk. Monkey joins Samir in his journey to Samarkand and begins to learn Samir's tricks of the trade. What initially seems like simple bartering tactics and weaving of wild tales turns out to be a recipe for disaster. Samir has earned grudges from many of his former customers, and now several assassins are after him. The thrills never let up in this fast-paced adventure tale that is packed with intrigue, vivid description, and plenty of heartwarming moments. The narrative voice is at times naive, at others snarky, but ultimately readers will find delight in Monkey's own ability to weave a wild tale that keeps them guessing till the very end. Miyares's beautiful full-color illustrations animate life along the Silk Road, and an extended author's note provides excellent historical context for Monkey's tale. VERDICT An epic adventure with an enduring message about love and family, this is a first purchase for upper elementary and middle school libraries.--Dana West

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West, Dana. "NAYERI, Daniel. The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 4, Apr. 2023, pp. 130+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A743483915/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aacbb53a. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Drawn Onward

Daniel Nayeri, illus. by Matt Rockefeller. HarperAlley, $19.99 (40p) ISBN 978-0-06-327716-8

Inside an idyllic hilltop cottage, beneath a portrait of two parents and a young child, a bearded adult and the child, a boy, sit alone and bereft: "She was gone." A page later, as the remaining caretaker struggles in the kitchen, the boy bolts in frustration ("He no longer believed... they would make it"). Outside, he snatches a sword and escapes into the woods, heading underground, slipping into a body of water, and emerging into worlds beyond. Within a snowy castle, he activates a glowing talisman that brings a stone image of his mother to life, at least long enough to answer a burning question. As the boy's quest progresses, the phrases of the text repeat in a mirrored narrative that initially reflects the boy's despair and, read in the reverse on the way home, conveys hope and resolve. Magnificently illuminated, video game--like spreads by Rockefeller (Poesy the Monster Slayer) feature stone ruins, menacing dragons, and ornaments that give the pages a book-of-hours feel. Printz Medalist Nayeri, meanwhile, distills an experience of grief, imparting the importance of seeking time alone to relive moments of shared love. Characters are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 4-8. Illustrator's agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media. (Oct.)

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"Drawn Onward." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 28, 22 July 2024, p. 64. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A803518172/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=62200658. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel DRAWN ONWARD HarperAlley (Children's None) $19.99 10, 8 ISBN: 9780063277168

A grieving young boy goes on an impossible adventure and returns, healed.

Nayeri's text is minimal, even cryptic: just about 50 words, spooled out over the page turns in brief, elliptical spurts--and then reversed, conveying an entirely different meaning. Little listeners are unlikely to notice the clever construction initially, so beguiled will they be by Rockefeller's lush, jewel-toned images. They set the scene first in a cozy, medieval-esque cottage beset by grief: A weeping child huddles next to a sorrowful bearded adult; above them hangs a painting of the child as a happy toddler cuddled between the bearded adult, now smiling, and a beaming woman. All are tan-skinned. The text reads, "She was gone." In extremis, the child flees to the forest and pulls a sword from the ground. From there the adventure emulates a video game's many levels, including an encounter with fearsome spiders, an underground ride in a rickety cart, a plunge into a sea serpent's lair, and more. At the end of his quest--the middle of the book--there's an ethereal woman, an agonized question, and the sublimely reassuring answer. The boy's journey home traverses the same territory, but with smiling confidence. The illustrations are so filled with detail that they demand repeat visits, which will prompt little ones and their grown-ups to explore both text and subtext further.

Entrancing and complex.(Picture book. 4-8)

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"Nayeri, Daniel: DRAWN ONWARD." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Aug. 2024. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A802865206/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=61c237e7. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Drawn Onward.

By Daniel Nayeri. Illus. by Matt Rockefeller.

Oct. 2024. 40p. HarperAlley, $19.99 (9780063277168).

PreS-Gr. 3.

"She was gone," begins this marvel of a palindromic picture book, as a son and father grieve together in their isolated mountain home. Nayeri's text is sparse but heartrending, sparking large questions that drive readers forward and allowing Rockefeller ample space to construct an evocative fantasy world. The boy, distraught, takes off with a sword and shield on a multi-spread odyssey through various terrains and fantastical encounters, fleeing from danger to danger on his quest to find "the answer." Rockefeller unifies each section under a common color tone, giving vibrancy and emotion to each segment as the boy escapes giant forest spiders, falls past mushroom-mining gnomes, crashes into a water serpent's murky lake, washes ashore a crystal desert, and finally finds the wintry ruins of a collapsed tower. There stands a statue of a woman, strangled by an evil vine, and the storys central line, its hinge, is presented: "Mom, were you glad you were Mom?" As the storywide palindrome begins its reverse course, the boy journeys back home, the answer held to his heart, and it provides the key to unlocking the secrets hidden within the previously fled obstacles. Repeat readings will be demanded, with the wildly detailed full-bleed art, paneled by artfully "painted" wood-frame gutters, providing unnumbered symmetries and connections for readers to discover. A touching triumph of artful collaboration between wordsmithing and world building.

YA Recommendations

Adult titles recommended for teens are marked with the following symbols: YA, for books of general YA interest; YA/C, for books with particular curricular value; and YA/S, for books that will appeal most to teens with a special interest in a specific subject.

Did You Know?

We flag books published for adults with notable teen appeal. Look for YA, YA/C, and YA/S in the Adult Books section for titles we recommend for YA readers.

Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Khuri, Ronny. "Drawn Onward." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 22, Aug. 2024, p. 80. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A808396905/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8d249c34. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

NAYERI, Daniel. The Bizarre Bazaar: Mirror Town. illus. by Liz Enright. 144p. Little, Brown Ink. Jul. 2025. Tr $24.99. ISBN 9780759556423.

Gr 3-6--Not much is going right in Abel Azari's life--his mom is busy working two jobs to keep them afloat, his impending summer plans are underwhelming, and he is firmly in the friendzone with his crush Ginny. Things begin looking up for Abel when he happens upon a brand-new, super mysterious shop of curiosities. The suspiciously helpful shopkeeper shows him the perfect gift to woo Ginny, but in order to secure the trinket, Abel needs an item to trade. With limited resources, he agrees to a shady deal with neighbor Mrs. Branley for a full summer's worth of yardwork in exchange for a dusty antique mirror from her garage. But on his way home, he falls through the mirror and into the parallel universe version of his life, in which all of his previous problems disappear. If Abel doesn't clue into what is going on fast, he may be stuck there forever. Printz Award-winning Nayeri (Everything Sad Is Untrue) freshens up the trope of middle school angst with fully realized characters and a disarmingly creepy narrative. Enright's cartoonish and vibrant panels lull readers into believing all is well, despite Abel's perilous situation in both the ordinary and extraordinary worlds. VERDICT A cool, well-conceived graphic novel that captures the essential appeal of vintage anthology sci-fi shows like The Twilight Zone. A recommended purchase for middle grade graphic novel collections.--Sarah Simpson

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Simpson, Sarah. "NAYERI, Daniel. The Bizarre Bazaar: Mirror Town." School Library Journal, vol. 71, no. 5, May 2025, p. 129. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A846210262/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=8563bbc7. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

NAYERI, Daniel. The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story. 192p. Levine Querido. Aug. 2025. Tr $18.99. ISBN 9781646145669.

Gr 3-7--Babak and Sana's father devoted his life to teaching others; but after he is claimed as a casualty of World War II, the brother-sister duo must find a way to survive on their own. Babak and Sana embark on a perilous journey across Iran to find the nomadic people their father taught, hoping to find a home among them. Babak vows to honor his father by also teaching, going as far as carrying a blackboard on his back. He quickly realizes the war-tom region is further divided due to language barriers and miscommunication. Initially lacking confidence in his own abilities, Babak slowly finds his conviction to bring people together through teaching languages, strongly proclaiming the importance of education as a tool for communication and forging bonds. Newbery Honor winner Nayeri highlights Iran during WWII, an often overlooked perspective of the war in a country caught between occupation by the Allied and Axis forces. The artfully detailed setting and strong values depicted through Babak's endeavor to teach others will leave readers inspired. VERDICT A powerful novel about an often-forgotten region and era that highlights the power of education through shared communication to create bonds.--Kristen Shaw

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Shaw, Kristen. "NAYERI, Daniel. The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story." School Library Journal, vol. 71, no. 5, May 2025, p. 128. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A846210254/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5de5711b. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

The Teacher of Nomad Land

Daniel Nayeri. Levine Querido, $18.99 (192p)

ISBN 978-1-64614-566-9

* Nayeri (The Bizarre Bazaar) considers the effects of WWII on two Iranian children in a heartpiercing historical novel. Following the death of Babak's educator father from British cannon fire in 1941 Iran, the 13-year-old takes guardianship of his eight-year-old sister Sana. They join a group of travelers migrating through the Zagros Mountains who briefly allow the siblings to stay with them on the condition that Babak, carrying his father's books and blackboard, teaches the other children English. Unable to wrangle the students, Babak and Sana are forced to travel to the city of Ahvaz on their own. On their journey they encounter Vulf, a threatening stranger searching for a Jewish child named Ben; after sneaking away from Vulf, the duo meets Ben, who joins them on their trek. As the children navigate each harrowing obstacle, Babak holds close wise words from his father, which drive the teen to persevere: "That is the teacher's job--to make the world understandable in parts." Babak's palpable love for his sister emphasizes the novel's suggestion that there is power in kindness, even in the face of tragedy. Lush details and taut plotting distinguish this immersive, profound offering. Ages 8-12. Agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary. (Aug.)

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"The Teacher of Nomad Land." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 18, 5 May 2025, p. 53. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A838974335/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0931ef5d. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND Levine Querido (Children's None) $18.99 8, 26 ISBN: 9781646145669

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. (map, author's note, further reading)(Historical fiction. 8-12)

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"Nayeri, Daniel: THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A843450015/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2dc6bf62. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

The Bizarre Bazaar: Mirror Town. By Daniel Nayeri. Art by Liz Enright. July 2025. 144P. Little, Brown Ink, $24.99 (9780759556423). Gr. 3-6. 741.5.

In the setup for this "tale passing strange" (the series' tagline), the reader plays a customer wandering into the Bizarre Bazaar, an antique shop crowded with objects from "every story." As two bickering, seemingly human employees greet you--looking off-page, directly at the reader ("Yes. I can see you. Hi.")--they lead you to a large mirror, an item that kicks off this installment's featured story. In small-town Texas, young Abel has confidence issues, an unrequited crush, a long-gone father, and a mom overburdened with work shifts. After a peculiar old neighbor gifts him a large mirror, he stumbles into it--and through it, to a mirror dimension of his regular world. In this version of the world, Abel has everything he ever wanted, but when the dream turns into a nightmare, he must find a way out. It's a successfully creepy tale that steadily builds tension till the end, though the proceedings are lightened by Enright's brightly filled, approachably rounded artwork. A promising start to a Twilight Zone--like new series for the early-middle-grade lot. --Ronny Khuri

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Khuri, Ronny. "The Bizarre Bazaar: Mirror Town." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 19-20, June 2025, p. 65. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A847198064/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ce1227e5. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel THE BIZARRE BAZAAR Little, Brown Ink (Children's None) $24.99 7, 8 ISBN: 9780759556423

The employees of the Bizarre Bazaar hawk unusual artifacts for the morbidly curious--and tell stories warning would-be customers about the perils of their wares.

As she gently bickers with fellow worker Bruno, Babs launches into a tale about a newly acquired mirror. It all begins with Abel Azari, an unpopular, artistic boy who lives in a trailer park just outside Walnut Bend, Texas. Overlooked by friends, crush Ginny Mendoza, and even his busy, overworked mother, Abel stumbles upon the Bizarre Bazaar one day and finds a charm bracelet that's perfect for Ginny. It's out of his price range, but Babs is willing to take a trade. Back home, Abel rummages through his absent father's old things for possibilities but comes up empty; after he does manual labor for his grumpy neighbor, she lets him take a mirror as payment. Before he can swap his new find for the bracelet, he falls into the mirror and enters a seemingly perfect world where his parents are together and everyone, including Ginny, adores him. But Abel quickly realizes that something isn't right. In this start to a new graphic novel series, Nayeri's cleverly structured narrative, paired with Enright's bright, retro-style cartoons, sets a tone that's by turns cavalier and chilling, delighting in mortal foibles and offering unexpected revelations. Brown-skinned Abel's surname suggests that he's of Iranian descent, Ginny is Latine, and the supporting cast is diverse.

Creepy fun.(Graphic fiction. 8-12)

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"Nayeri, Daniel: THE BIZARRE BAZAAR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A843449766/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=33bdbfcd. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

A Knot Is Not a Tangle

Daniel Nayeri, illus. by Vesper Stamper.

Knopf, $18.99 (48p)

ISBN 978-0-5938-0969-3

* | Combi ning st ep-by-s tep details with a tender look at an elder passing on generational information, this extended account by Nayeri (Drawn Onward) traces a child's learning the art of Persian rug-making. The narrator and Grandma share breakfast on the fraying rug that she once made with her own grandmother: "And now it's our turn." First the two visit Grandpa in the field, where he gives them sheared wool that the two wash, card, spin, and dye. A plan is drawn on graph paper ("In our city of Isfahaan, the popular designs look like tiles or gardens in a palace"), and work on the loom commences. While the youth insists on perfection, Grandma pulls out a knot halfway through, calling it "the Persian flaw," and adding, "Nothing in this world is perfect, and nothing should pretend to be. Our job is only to make knots out of the tangles." Though told in present tense, the narration has the feel of family lore burnished by years of reflection. Greens, pinks, reds, and teals dominate intensely hued watercolors from Stamper (The Greatest), which place the family in a pastoral landscape. A concluding author's note offers more about the 2,500-year-old art. Ages 4-8. Author's agent: Joanna Volpe, New Leaf Literary & Media. Illustrator's agent: Lori Kilkelly, LK Literary. (Nov.)

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"A Knot Is Not a Tangle." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 34, 8 Sept. 2025, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A855252515/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f4bece18. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

Nayeri, Daniel A KNOT IS NOT A TANGLE Knopf (Children's None) $18.99 11, 25 ISBN: 9780593809693

Seated on their fraying family rug, an Iranian boy and his grandmother set out to weave a new one together.

Upon receiving newly shorn wool from his grandfather, the unnamed child (who narrates) declares that their rug will be the best ever, but Grandma gently tempers his lofty expectations. They wash, card, spin, and dye the wool with indigo, madder, and larkspur, then graph patterns that resemble tiles and palace gardens common to Isfahan, where they live. When the boy insists on flawless design, Grandma points to their current rug: It may be faded, but it's long been a place where family gathers. At the loom, she tells him that all rugs--whether a king's jeweled rug or one that's old and faded--reflect practicality and purpose. She deliberately pulls out one knot--the "Persian flaw"--explaining that nothing is perfect or should pretend to be. Understanding dawns as the boy takes their finished rug for washing and respectfully places the old one under the loom. Nayeri's quietly meditative narrative about finding grace in life's inherent flaws unfolds beautifully, speaking both to the perils of perfectionism and the power of embracing heritage. Stamper's mottled and muted illustrations reinforce the message while adding a sense of time and place. Recurring objects like the samovar, plants, and patterns show purposeful utility and reflect the family's interconnectedness to land and living culture.

A tender celebration of tradition, family bonds, and the beauty of imperfection. (author's note)(Picture book. 4-8)

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"Nayeri, Daniel: A KNOT IS NOT A TANGLE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2025, p. NA(null). Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A861513573/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c187d80a. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

"Nayeri, Dina: ANOTHER JEKYLL, ANOTHER HYDE." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2012. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A279908012/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=7c1c15ed. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Doyle, Anthony C. "Nayeri, Daniel & Dina Nayeri. Another Jekyll, Another Hyde." School Library Journal, vol. 58, no. 3, Mar. 2012, p. 169. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A282425693/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=67ce5545. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Hazlett, Lisa. "Nayeri, Daniel, and Dina Nayeri. Another Jekyll, Another Hyde." Voice of Youth Advocates, vol. 35, no. 1, Apr. 2012, p. 78. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A286718369/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f4ff0ff7. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Dowling, Janet. "Nayeri, Daniel: How to Tell a Story." School Librarian, vol. 64, no. 1, spring 2016, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A448568688/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=249c4088. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Parrott, Kiera. "The man with a plan: Daniel Nayeri on his highly design-centered, studio approach to kid lit." School Library Journal, vol. 63, no. 1, Jan. 2017, p. 22. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A476559416/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=65081c6c. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Nayeri, Daniel: THE MOST DANGEROUS BOOK." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Dec. 2017. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A516024656/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=b8805907. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Nayeri, Daniel: SASHA AND PUCK AND THE POTION OF LUCK." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Feb. 2019. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A573768888/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=67870bea. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Everything Sad Is Untrue (A True Story)." Publishers Weekly, vol. 267, no. 24, 15 June 2020, p. 63. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A628069406/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=36faa563. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Welsch, Camille-Yvette. "Everything Sad Is Untrue; A True Story." ForeWord, 27 June 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A627992070/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=76d576fb. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Khuri, Ronny. "Everything Sad Is Untrue: (a true story)." Booklist, vol. 116, no. 21, 1 July 2020, p. 62. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A632532895/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=50616f83. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Writt, Hilary. "NAYERI, Daniel. Everything Sad Is Untrue: (A True Story)." School Library Journal, vol. 66, no. 7, July 2020, p. 60. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A629053920/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=6804b7e7. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "'Everything Sad Is Untrue' Is Funny And Sad And (Mostly) True." All Things Considered, 2 Sept. 2020. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A634739471/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=28bb1c2e. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Nayeri, Daniel: THE MANY ASSASSINATIONS OF SAMIR, THE SELLER OF DREAMS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Jan. 2023. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A731562186/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5a326efe. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams." Publishers Weekly, vol. 270, no. 5, 30 Jan. 2023, pp. 67+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A737039794/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=bf4fa950. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Sriram, Aditi. "Peddling Stories on the Silk Road." The New York Times Book Review, 5 Mar. 2023, p. 18(L). Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A739568683/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5c50c1bd. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. West, Dana. "NAYERI, Daniel. The Many Assassinations of Samir, the Seller of Dreams." School Library Journal, vol. 69, no. 4, Apr. 2023, pp. 130+. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A743483915/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=aacbb53a. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Drawn Onward." Publishers Weekly, vol. 271, no. 28, 22 July 2024, p. 64. 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Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A846210254/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=5de5711b. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Nayeri, Daniel: THE TEACHER OF NOMAD LAND." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A843450015/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=2dc6bf62. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "The Teacher of Nomad Land." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 18, 5 May 2025, p. 53. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A838974335/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0931ef5d. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. Khuri, Ronny. "The Bizarre Bazaar: Mirror Town." Booklist, vol. 121, no. 19-20, June 2025, p. 65. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A847198064/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=ce1227e5. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Nayeri, Daniel: THE BIZARRE BAZAAR." Kirkus Reviews, 15 June 2025. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A843449766/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=33bdbfcd. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "A Knot Is Not a Tangle." Publishers Weekly, vol. 272, no. 34, 8 Sept. 2025, p. 46. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A855252515/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=f4bece18. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025. "Nayeri, Daniel: A KNOT IS NOT A TANGLE." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Nov. 2025, p. NA(null). Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A861513573/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=c187d80a. Accessed 26 Nov. 2025.

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