Me: It's okay.

The Rabbit: *bored*

Guinea Pigs: *sleeping* ( )

King Balash had a great diamond that he enjoyed because of the brilliant rainbow light is projected on the walls inside of his palace. He placed value on this jewel because of the enjoyment it brought him to show it to all of his subjects. When this diamond was stolen and then destroyed the king was cast into a dispirited mood that troubled his kingdom. Until a young man decide to bring light back into the palace by way of a beautiful multi-colored carpet that will once again bring pride, purpose, and enjoyment back into the palace.

I thought this was a great story to demonstrate true worth, care, and concern. The value and worth was not with the king's diamond but with the kings loyal subjects.
Excellent story and I enjoyed how the graphics captured the excitement of the expressions. They made me want to find out what happened next! ( )

Size doesn't matter is a key theme in this story. A young boy comes and makes the situation all better by when he takes the broken pieces of the jewel and makes it into a carpet, and this brings the king back inside and the presence of the jewel.
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Bibliographic Information: Tomie DePaola, “The Legend of the Persian Carpet”, Illustrated by Claire Ewart, Published by G. P. Putnam’s Sons, ©1993, 27 pages
Genre: Folktales, myth, fables and legends
Summary: The King Balash of Persia had a huge diamond that would throw rainbows all around palace. He was not a greedy King so he would let everyone come in and see this. One night a stranger comes into the palace and steals the diamond but as his running away drops it and breaks it in the sand. Balash is lost without it. He asks his people to help find it. A boy finds it and brings the king to it. Balash just sits and stares at it and decides never to go back to his palace. His people are scared that some other king will try to take of Persia so they devise a plan. They ask the king to come back for one year and a day and if they can’t make him some as beautiful he can go back out in the desert. They work for a year making beautiful silks and weaving a huge rug. They lay the carpet out before the king and he is amazed at all the colors like a rainbow and decides not to leave.
Tags: Colorful, Rainbows, Beauty
My Response: I really liked the triumph in this story. They didn’t know if they were going to get the King to stay but the rug just comes out beautiful. They get to keep the King and have something beautiful again to look at.

This book was fine, but it didn't really capture my kids' (or my) attention. I found the transitions a little clunky; I kept thinking I was skipping pages when I wasn't because bits seemed like they were missing. Not major plot points or bits of dialogue, just transition sentences from one scene to another. This book did prompt me to look up whether a diamond can break/shatter or not (turns out it can). ( )