The Girl Who Lost Her Smile

Christine Linge MacDonald, a past director of the Toronto & District
Parent Co-operative Preschool Corporation and a freelance writer, is an
elementary school teacher in Whitby, Ontario.

Karim Alrawi’s mystical Turkish fable is based on an ancient story by
the founder of the Whirling Dervishes.

Jehan is a girl whose smile causes the sun to shine by day and the moon
to glitter at night. Jehan awakens one morning to find her smile
missing, and outside the people cannot see the sun. Jehan’s father
brings in artists from Italy and China to inspire his daughter to smile,
but to no avail. His wise bird adviser, the hoopoe, finally comes upon a
Persian youth who promises to restore Jehan’s smile. His method is
simple: he asks Jehan to assist him in sanding and smoothing the walls
of her home. The task seems onerous, but eventually the wall begins to
glow and Jehan sees the beauty that has always been hidden there,
“waiting for her to uncover it.” Soon the wall glows brightly, and
so does Jehan’s smile. The sun shines again.

Alrawi has streamlined this tale to its narrative bones, relying on the
luminous, vivid illustrations and the reader’s intuitive understanding
of allegory to fill in the gaps. Stefan Czernecki’s geometric people
shine from within thanks to the artist’s subtle use of shading, and
the young reader is treated to several bright glimpses of diverse
cultures. Nonetheless, the act of scraping walls may seem puzzling to
readers used to drywall and paneling, and adult readers may find it
challenging to explain to their young listeners why this action would
make a wall glow. Recommended.