The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story

 

I love reading Newberys about true events I never knew happened. I was not at all familiar with what was going on in Iran during World War II. 

There is a nearly perfect scene at the climax of the book. Babak and Sana (and Ben) arrive at a checkpoint heading into Ahvaz just after the Bahktiari nomads get there. There are Russian and English soldiers refusing their passage and nobody can understand each other and everyone is yelling in different languages. In a moment, Babak realizes he can help.

Somewhere else in the world, the two sides of the war are the Axis and Allies and all they have to do is shoot at each other from across a frontline. The neutral parts are the leftover places that have no lines, and catch whatever people spill into them from the battlefield. And now here is the mess of it.

Babak tries to get everyone's attention and finally yells, "If you can hear me, clap once." and then, "If you can hear me, clap twice."

After the two claps, it's properly silent now and everyone is staring at Babak. It's such a silly thing to have happened that all the adults are struck mute for a second.

Then Babak finds people in the crowd that speak the languages he needs. The Bakhtiari leader speaks to him in Bahktiari, then he talks to Ben in Farsi, who explains to a soldier in Polish, who communicates to Callum in English, who speaks to a soldier in French, who translates to the commissar in Russian. Then the response travels back through the chain. At first it is strained, but the two parties finally come to a resolution and sort out the "gift" (bribe) that the nomads must pay the soldiers to continue on the road.

I felt this scene was the very essence of the book. Peace is hard. It's harder than war. Making compromises requires effort and education can be a key to that process. Babak tries the whole book to prove to others (and himself) that learning another language is worthwhile, and then this incredible (fictional) stand off illustrates the value of it flawlessly. 

Biggest takeaway: For the first time ever in my life, I want to learn Persian.