Little Parisa—Farsi for "like an angel"—goes to bed one night only to be shaken from sleep by an earthquake that rocks her home of Bam, Iran. Frightened and alone—the earthquake has left her town deserted—Parisa knocks on the doors of various animals, only to be rebuffed again and again. Boar accuses her of being a hunter; Owl blames her for taking his food and leaving him hungry. Lion just gives a ferocious roar. Left with nothing but her resolve, Parisa turns to the most natural of human instincts: She walked as a human child under the sun. She dances. She laughs. She waters neglected flowers. She shares. And one by one, her generous spirit inspires the animals around her to put aside their differences and revel in the simple delights that unite them. Donna Jo Napoli's accomplished storytelling is beautifully complemented by Gabi Swiatkowska's dramatic oil paintings to celebrate the courage and fortitude of the human spirit.
Author
Donna Jo Napoli is both a linguist and a writer of children's and YA fiction. She loves to garden and bake bread, and even dreams of moving to the woods and becoming a naturalist. At various times her house and yard have been filled with dogs, cats, birds, and rabbits. For thirteen years she had a cat named Taxi, and liked to go outside and call, "Taxi!" to make the neighbors wonder. But dear dear Taxi died in 2009. She has five children, seven grandchildren, and currently lives outside Philadelphia. She received her BA in mathematics in 1970 and her Ph.D. in Romance Languages and Literatures in 1973, both from Harvard University, then did a postdoctoral year in Linguistics at MIT. She has since taught linguistics at Smith College, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Georgetown University, the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and Swarthmore College. It was at UM that she earned tenure (in 1981) and became a full professor (in 1984). She has held visiting positions at the University of Queensland (Australia), the University of Geneva (Switzerland), Capital Normal University of Beijing (China), the University of Newcastle (UK), the University of Venice at Ca' Foscari (Italy), and the Siena School for the Liberal Arts (Italy) as well as lectured at the University of Sydney (Australia), Macquarie University (Australia), the University of the Witwatersrand (South Africa), and the University of Stellenbosch (South Africa) and held a fellowship at Trinity College Dublin. In the area of linguistics she has authored, coauthored, edited, or coedited 17 books, ranging from theoretical linguistics to practical matters in language structure and use, including matters of interest to d/Deaf people. She has held grants and fellowships from numerous sources, including the National Science Foundation, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Mellon Foundation, the Sloan Foundation.
