The History of The Iranian Children's Literature at
"Frankfurt Book Fair"

Books for Young Adults

The writer has selected a topic, which the world today is struggling with as a big problem: those who have fled their homeland and become homeless and those who have taken them in. A large number of these refugees are children who make up the most vulnerable layer of the society. The reflection of this universal phenomenon in children’s literature, like works done on environment or multi-cultural affairs, has created a new genre in the children’s literature in the past decade. Many writers and illustrators have made attempts to picture this worldwide difficulty with artistic expression.
Mohammad Hadi Mohammadi, the Iranian writer, inspired by the painful lives of hundreds of refugee Afghan children living in Iran, has made an effort to picture the pain of homelessness and the feeling of being rejected in a new society, in a novel for young adults.
Using a new structure in story writing, he hands his pen to his Afghan counterpart to tell the sufferings of himself and the children of his homeland. From the very beginning he makes it clear that two people make this story. The writer who is now sitting in place of an Afghan writer and an Afghan child about whom he wants to write. He puts all hope in his Afghan counterparts and Afghan children to begin a full new life once again.

" The Fourth Potato Emperor " is an imaginary environmental issue in which there is an allegorical war between the living things in the kitchen and the dirty creatures who occupy the land. The message of the story makes the human aware of the difficulties that are created by developing industry in the area. Dependence on the environmental elements can lead to the protection of plants and animals. It defends itself from air and water pollution and it defends itself against the breeding of harmful animals and it defends itself against making garbage. This story is environmentally oriented but actually it has a socio-political message. The story has emphasis on two civilizations: the green island and the dirty bunch. The culture of those from the green island is like the ancient Aryan civilization who worships the sun and the just king restores justice and order. It is a civilization that is interested in peace that has advanced and an honorable judicial system. The love of culture, literature, music and poetry are important and everything is done to protect it. In the other case, civilization of the dirty bunch claims that their civilization is a new industry. This civilization is in place of a traditional civilization of the past. Its legal system is a militaristic, totalitarian and a dictatorial one. Its main principle is built on horror and terror. The regime's development is based on the fact that it does not prevent any crime. In this regime the leaders' orders must be carried out and its action and decisions are far from justice. Other effective features are the creation of the writer of a sense of wittiness, which opens up opportunities for dialogue in the story.