Turkish Delight--A Kid's Guide To Istanbul, Turkey

A review of this book in Today's Zaman, 'Turkish Delight': Exploring Sultanahmet with a child, 2 October 2011 / MARION JAMES, ISTANBUL reads in part as follows:

If I were taking a child around Sultanahmet, we would arrive home exhausted and fall into a deep sleep, imagining ourselves to be characters from Istanbul's exciting historic past.

This child's eye view is captured in a delightful series of guidebooks by Weigand and Dyan. The Istanbul guide is entitled "Turkish Delight" and children are taken round the city by a simple rhyme which accompanies 20 full-page photographs.

"What a surprise to go to Istanbul, Turkey, and to see all the wonderful things that a kid can see," they write in the introduction. "The whole idea of the Dyan/Weigand travel books is to let you see some of the things kids might like to see when they travel to other countries and to give you a real taste and flavor of these places. These books with the poetry of Penelope Dyan and the photographs of John Weigand are different ... because they are meant to stir the imaginations of children, not spoon-feed them facts that are boring."

The poetry certainly pulls a child into the trip and its rhythm keeps you turning the pages. Some of the rhymes and scanning are a bit forced, but it is a good device to keep the child's interest. As a former teacher, Dyan knows just what will grab the imagination.

In the Grand Bazaar...

There are shops there with all kinds of things

Even emeralds and rubies and diamond rings!

And by the head of Medusa in the underground cisterns:

Don't look into her eyes!

Don't go there alone!

Or you may find

YOU are turned into stone!

Some of the pictures are absolute winners, captivating the eye. Rows of colorful slippers spread out on a stall capture the very essence of Istanbul street-trading. A few pages on there is an amazing array of fresh fish, shot real close up.

Outside a restaurant I saw these fish,

Waiting to be cooked and put on a dish!

The author and photographer point out that "children remember what catches their eyes." end quote

This picture book written by award winning author and former teacher, Penelope Dyan, is meant to awaken the senses and the imagination of the young child and is truly seen through the eyes of a child. This is why it is a "Turkish Delight."