Fatima the Spinner and the Tent / Fatima de spinster en de tent

"... an excellent example of a 'Teaching-Story' used to promote critical thinking through the power of an entertaining tale." - Foreword Reviews (U.S.)

"This fascinating tale will captivate young readers with its suspenseful plot. Older readers can make connections with their own lives and explore the deeper meanings of the concepts of misfortune, opportunity, and ultimate happiness." - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Consultant and Director of Publications, National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.)

"If you are looking for a book for all ages that all can take something away from the reading, this just might be the book you are looking for. While aimed at children ... there is definitely more to it than that and even adults will find something to take away from the experience." - Wisconsin (U.S.) Muslim Journal

ï»ï»"These teaching stories can be experienced on many levels. A child may simply enjoy hearing them; an adult may analyze them in a more sophisticated way. Both may eventually benefit from the lessons within." - "All Things Considered," National Public Radio (U.S.)

"They [teaching stories] suggest ways of looking at difficulties that can help children solve problems calmly while, at the same time, giving them fresh perspectives on these difficulties that help them develop their cognitive abilities" - psychologist Robert Ornstein, Ph.D., in his lecture "Teaching Stories and the Brain" given at the U.S. Library of Congress

"Through repeated readings, these stories provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children. Beautifully illustrated." - NEA Today: The Magazine of the National Education Association (U.S.)

"Shah's versatile and multilayered tales provoke fresh insight and more flexible thought in children." - Bookbird: A Journal of International Children's Literature

"These stories ... are not moralistic fables or parables, which aim to indoctrinate, nor are they written only to amuse. Rather, they are carefully designed to show effective ways of defining and responding to common life experiences." - Denise Nessel, Ph.D., Senior Consultant with the National Urban Alliance for Effective Education (U.S.), writing in Library Media Connection: The Professional Magazine for School Library Media Specialists (U.S.)

"These enchanting stories Shah has collected have a richness and depth not often encountered in children's literature, and their effect on minds young and old can be almost magical." - Multicultural Perspectives: An Official Journal of the National Association for Multicultural Education (U.S.)

"In this tradition, the line between stories for children and those for adults is not as clear as it seems to be in Western cultures, and the lessons are important for all generations." - School Library Journal (U.S.)

"Our experiences show that, while reading Idries Shah's stories can help children with reading and writing, the stories can also help them transcend fixed patterns of emotion and behaviour which may be getting in the way of learning and emotional well-being too. ... By flying under the radar of emotion and analytical thinking, the patterns contained within a story can shift children's perspective, to let them 'own' the meaning for themselves." - Ezra Hewing, Head of Education at the mental-health charity Suffolk Mind in Suffolk, U.K.; and Kashfi Khan, who teaches English as an additional language at Hounslow Town Primary School in London