An Introduction to Tiny Owl

Jill Bennett introduces a new independent publishing company setting out to introduce the cream of the crop of global children’s literature, contemporary and old, to the English speaking audience

Delaram Ghaniford came to the UK with her family in 2010 and quickly identifed ‘a lack of representation of diverse cultural backgrounds in children’s books market.’ Delaram was determined to introduce some of the riches from her own Iranian background to families like hers who had relocated, and to the UK population at large. Hence, with her husband, she set up Tiny Owl Publishing and their first titles, all from Iranian translations, were published during 2015.

My first encounter with Tiny Owl was The Boy Who Cried Wolf, sent by Books for Keeps for review early last year. Here was a familiar story, one of Aesop’s fables (though my interest in the cross cultural study of traditional tales told me its origins went further back and to other parts of the world), to which Iranian artist Mahni Tazibi was giving a visual freshness, making me want to revisit the story yet again.

So impressed was I by this book that I immediately contacted Delaram who in due course, sent me further titles, When I Coloured the World by Ahmadreza Ahmadi and The Parrot and the Merchant. These are equally impressive and were particularly well received by the groups of children in schools with whom I shared the stories. I should add here that I have in the last couple of years moved out of London where I’d always worked with a rich cultural mix of children from all over the world and am now living in rural Gloucestershire, where the schools do not as yet have this rich cultural diversity. Nonetheless, the books proved very popular and quite clearly opened doors to wonderful new worlds, while at the same time striking chords, with these youngsters here.

In When I Coloured the World, the author’s child narrator, with her judicious use of an eraser and a box of crayons, changes the world to a place of joy and peace, hope, playfulness and much more. Ehsan Abdollahi, the book’s illustrator brilliantly catches that special child-like simplicity in uplifting scenes that are aglow with wonderfully patterned, richly hued images.

The Parrot and the Merchant is a thought provoking retelling of an ancient fable about freedom from the pen of 13th C poet/philosopher Rumi. Herein, the artist, Marjan Vafaian makes the merchant a woman, and the jewel-like illustrations are simply gorgeous.

The well-regarded Iranian poet Ahmadi is the author of the seemingly simple, provocative Alive Again, which has at its heart themes of change, loss, death, rebirth and renewal, and the cycles of nature. Nahid Kazemi’s collage style illustrations have a child-like quality that is likely to inspire children’s own creative endeavours.

Tiny Owl’s very first title however was Samad Behrangi’s allegorical The Little Black Fish, Iran’s most famous children’s book, illustrated by the award-winning Farshid Mesghali. This longish story features a tiny fish with BIG questions and an equally big determination to find answers to them. This little fish has the courage to swim against the tide so to speak, to do what the other fish dare not: to swim over the edge of the pool and ultimately into the river that will show him much more of the world. After many adventures he does eventually reach the sea and discovers what he sought, but does not live to tell the story himself.

Anahita Teymorian is the illustrator of The Clever Mouse – a fable-like tale wherein a mouse learns from his own mistakes, and A Bird Like Himself wherein a baby bird with a variety of parents, eventually has to discover his own identity. Both are rendered in rich colours and the design of the latter is particularly ingenious.

Other 2015 titles were Tahmineh’s Beautiful Bird which introduces readers to the Qashghai tribe’s people, originally nomadic shepherds, and the wonderful, brightly coloured woven woollen artefacts created by the girls; and an ingenious, multi-layered fable, The Snowman and the Sun.

During 2016 and beyond, Tiny Owl will concentrate on two projects: finding and publishing books from other countries; and matching authors from the UK and illustrators from Iran and vice versa. The latter Delaram sees ‘as a kind of intercultural dialogue, seeing the same story from different angles’.

Every one of these books has its own beauty and I look forward to seeing the new titles, which include A Rainbow in My Pocket by Ali Seidabadi, illustrated by Hoda Haddadi. This story takes the form of a little girl’s thoughts and notes as she discusses her questions and dreams over a week; and Will and Nill, a tale of two cats, one playful, the other lazy.

For 7-11 readers: illustrated by Marjan Vafaian is Bijan and Manijeh a retelling of a love story that changes the outcomes of a war, from Shahnameh (the Book of Kings) originally written a thousand years ago by Ferdowsi.

Their first 2016 titles are The Jackal Who Thought He Was a Peacock, a reworking of a Rumi fable, dramatically illustrated by Firoozeh Golmohammadi; and a delightfully quirky tale The Orange House featuring an old house that feels her place in the world is threatened by the new buildings around her.

Jill Bennett works with Early Years children and acts as a consultant for Early Years Education, literature and literacy and occasionally RE. She is the author of Learning to Read with Picture Books.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf, Pippa Goodhart illus Mahni Tazhibi, 978-1910328040, £11.99 hbk

The Parrot and the Merchant, Rumi illus Marjan Vafaian, 978-1910328033, £11.99

When I Coloured the World, Ahmadreza Ahmadi illus Ehsan Abdollahi, 978-1910328071 £11.99

Alive Again, Ahmdreza Ahmadi, 978-1910328057, £11.99

The Little Black Fish, Samad Behrangi, 978-1910328002, £12.99

The Clever Mouse, Anahita Teymorian, 978-1910328019, £11.99

A Bird Like Himself, Anahita Teymorian and Pippa Goodhart, 978-1910328026, £11.99

Tahmineh’s Beautiful Bird, Parviz Kalantari, 978-1910328064

The Snowman and the Sun, Susan Taghdis, 978-1910328101, £7.99

A Rainbow in My Pocket, Ali Seidabadi, 978-1910328125, £12.99

The Jackal Who Thought He Was a Peacock, Rumi, 978-1910328132, £12.99

The Orange House, Nahid Kazemi, 978-1910328118, £12.99