The Salt Princess (Everlasting Tales #2)

Retold and illustrated by Anoosha Syed

Translated by Humera Syed

Harper (HarperCollins)

978-0-06-332471-8

40 pp.

Ages 4-8

April 2025 

 

Folktales tell us a lot about a culture and people, yet many have commonalities across cultures and people. The Salt Princess, a story which Anoosha Syed humbly presents as a retelling, but illustrated by her, is one such folktale from Pakistan, told with a unique flair with the message that true happiness comes from being one's self.

From The Salt Princess, retold and illustrated by Anoosha Syed

In the Kingdom of Zammartud, the king had four daughters. Though her older sisters were "as lovely and bright" as their father hoped of his daughters, Amal was less so. Princess Amal loved pranks and making her sisters laugh. But, when her father asked his daughters how they loved him, her sisters compared their love for him to sweets like sugar, honey and sherbet. However, he is not pleased with Princess Amal's answer: "I love you like salt."

From The Salt Princess, retold and illustrated by Anoosha Syed

In a rage at comparing him to something as common as salt, the king banishes Princess Amal. She knows she had misspoken but now she is alone in the woods.

From The Salt Princess, retold and illustrated by Anoosha Syed

She is rescued by Prince Arsalan who hears her story and takes her to his kingdom. He appreciates her spirit and humour and, after a year had passed, he asks her to marry him. But that proposal reminds Amal of the absence of her family and the riff with her father. Being the clever woman she is, Amal devises a plan.

 

Prince Arsalan invites the king to a banquet where he is treated to countless sweet treats. Soon enough he realizes he would appreciate something other than desserts but even those dishes are lacking in flavour. It is only when a cloaked Amal gives him a humble farmer's dish of spinach seasoned with salt that his palate is satisfied. With that, Amal reveals herself and explains her love for him is as pure and valuable as the salt in that dish.

From The Salt Princess, retold and illustrated by Anoosha Syed

The tale in The Salt Princess will seem familiar with other stories in which a child is banished by a father who does not appreciate their self-expression. That parent has to come to realize the virtue and originality of being an individual and to look beyond the obvious. In her retelling, Anoosha Syed, a Pakistani Canadian artist, gives life to a tale she'd heard as a child and blankets it in the colour and culture of her heritage.

 

The story is told in words but also through the glow of Anoosha Syed's artwork. The illustrations begin bright and colourful, playful like Amal's mischievous pranks and spirited nature. But, as her story progresses, taking her into a forest, beautiful as it is, it becomes dark and foreboding. Then when she meets the prince, the artwork becomes comforting in tones of pinks and turquoise. And throughout the story, the artwork is rich in details in both the lushness of the shapes and vibrancy of its colours.

 

As with all folktales which entertain while teaching, The Salt Princess reminds us that perceptions of others may be misconstrued and inappropriately compel us to fit in by being untrue to ourselves. Thankfully, Princess Amal is a clever woman and true to herself and finds a way to prove to her father that her love for him is just as true, even if different.

Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior

Translated by Faye-Lynn Wu

Illustrated by Joy Ang

Harper (An imprint of HarperCollins)

978-0-06-280341-2

32 pp.

Ages 4-8

2019

Mulan is a legend and versions of that legend have already hit the page and screen, with the newest, a live-action drama, hitting movie theatres in about two weeks. Though Mulan's story, that of a young woman who disguises herself as a male warrior in Ancient China, is an empowering one, it may not always be presented in a format for children. This translation of the legend by Taiwanese-born American Faye-Lynn Wu and stunningly illustrated by Canadian-born Joy Ang is perfect for conveying Mulan's story in a powerful but accessible way.

From Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior, illus. by Joy Ang

The story begins with Mulan who lived with her family in a small village in northern China. When a decree comes from the emperor that all families must send their males to defend the country, Mulan goes in the stead of her sickly father and far-too-young brother. Dressing in her father's clothes, she joins the army, camping and travelling and battling their enemies. Always Mulan hears her family calling her name and knows she must serve to make them proud.

For twelve years, Mulan endures the hardships of a soldier, from battles to physical exhaustion and cold. She becomes a commander and receives accolades and treasures for her courage and service, all without her comrades or leaders ever knowing she was a woman.

From Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior, illus. by Joy Ang

When the emperor chooses to honour her with an appointment to the high court, she declines, asking instead to be able to return home. It is at the celebration upon her return home when she reveals her gender to her fellow soldiers, reminding them that "One should not judge another by their appearance alone. When a pair of rabbits run side by side, can you tell the female from the male?"

From Mulan: The Legend of the Woman Warrior, illus. by Joy Ang

While Faye-Lynn Wu, the translator of Mulan's story, is not Canadian, the illustrator Joy Ang is Canadian born and an artist whose versatile work has graced picture books, animated TV shows, comics and video games. For Mulan, she relies on the earthy tones of woven fabrics, leather and aspects of natural world, with occasional reds and mauves to add a richness and an emotional element to her illustrations. Because the story of Mulan is so organic and palpable–a girl who becomes a warrior in Ancient China–Joy Ang's digital artwork reflects that reality. Still Joy Ang's shapes and lines are strong and authoritative, forceful and dynamic, and reflect the legendary warrior completely.

Consider introducing your young readers to the legend of Mulan via Faye-Lynn Wu and Joy Ang's picture book for a story that is perfect for them and honourable to a woman who did not let her gender stop her from doing what she chose to do for family and country.

Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell

Written and illustrated by Selina Alko

Harper (An imprint of HarperCollins)

978-0-06-267129-5

48 pp.

Ages 4-8

February 2020

Of course there is music in a book about singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. But Selina Alko brings her own music through her words and collage art resplendent with textures and colours. She tells Joni's story of music with her own.

Joni Mitchell painted with words.

Sitting at her piano or strumming the guitar, she turned the words into songs.

The songs were like brushstrokes on a canvas, saying things that were not only happy or sad but true.

From Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell by Selina Alko

Beginning with Joni's childhood as Roberta Joan Anderson, Selina Alko reveals how a restless child who spent time dancing in nature, painting on her walls and creating melodies on the piano ("Rainbows tipped and jumped and skipped in her head") grew into the musician whose hauntingly emotive songs weave a tapestry of longing, environmentalism and home. After Joni's polio treatment, she continued to paint and also write poetry, while learning to play ukulele and finally guitar.

With a trip to a folk festival in Toronto, she began writing songs, performing and marrying Chuck Mitchell, to become Joni Mitchell.

There was a thunderstorm of feelings, anger and tears, and performing her own songs for the very first time.

Selina Alko makes Joni's life into a musical journey of experiences and events that fuelled each song. There's the plane ride from which she noticed the clouds, leading to the song "Both Sides, Now." And looking out the window on her New York neighbourhood she wrote "Chelsea Morning." Later Joni "painted her feelings" into "Big Yellow Taxi" when she saw the destruction of the natural world for buildings and cars.

From Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell by Selina Alko

With each life experience and song, whose lyrics are embedded in the fabric of Joni's life, Selina Alko reveals the influences that made Joni the singer-songwriter she became. Countless recognizable musicians, including Mama Cass, Neil Young, Graham Nash and Charles Mingus, are showcased as being part of her story, influencing the creation of numerous albums.

From Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell by Selina Alko

CBC radio documentarian Selina Alko stays true to her roots of telling stories about real things and real people with her new picture book, Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell. She tells it with honesty and emotional detail, evoking a story of creativity and musicality. But her storytelling, albeit biographical, is more than about a life's timeline. It is an expressive record of a musician's odyssey, filled with highs and lows, the mundane and the extraordinary, and the artistry. Selina Alko reflects that style of storytelling in her own words, packed with feeling and nuance, but also, perhaps even more so, in her artwork. The illustrations in Joni: The Lyrical Life of Joni Mitchell have depth of colour and shape. The darkness and lightness of Joni's music and the richness of her life are all there in Selina Alko's collage art.

A single reading of this picture book will not suffice for older readers who will want to explore the depth of influences and expression in Joni Mitchell's music, art and life but it will introduce young readers well to an iconic Canadian singer-songwriter who helped shape music with her art.