Staff Pick of the Week!

This week's pick is Anahita's Woven Riddle by Meghan Nuttall Sayres (YA SAYRES).

A young woman weaver ... a riddle ... and four suitors. Who will Anahita choose? The self-important khan who makes the major decisions for her tribe? The shepherd she’s known her whole life? The young scholar who wishes to teach her of his world? Or the prince raised as a nomad like herself?

And which man will accept her hand in marriage? Will the khan, the man she does not want to marry, get his way? Will her childhood friend have a chance to solve her riddle while his parents refuse to ask for Anahita’s hand? Will Reza’s teachings reach Anahita’s heart? Will Arash be able to find Anahita after their chance meetings in the marketplace?

And will the Iranian nomadic life as Anahita knows it remain the same? While Anahita is concentrating on weaving her wedding carpet and choosing the riddle her suitors must solve, she realizes that her way of life is changing. Synthetic dyes have been introduced into the marketplace. There is talk of instituting a Western-style government in Iran and of curtailing the rights of the nomadic tribes. The khan, instead of protecting Anahita’s tribe, manipulates his people to gain his own ends. Will Anahita's tribe survive these changes?

Find the answers to these questions in Anahita's Woven Riddle.