The House of Wisdom

Front Cover
This is the true story of Ishaq, a young boy in ninth-century Baghdad. And it is the story of the House of Wisdom. More than a house, more than a library, more even than a palace, the House of Wisdom was at the very center of the new ideas that flourished in Baghdad. It was here that thousands of scholars gathered to read, to exchange ideas, and to translate the dusty manuscripts that were brought by camel and ship from all over the world. Ishaq cannot understand why ancient words, words from faraway places, can cause such excitement. Then he embarks on a difficult journey seeking lost manuscripts. But it is what he discovers when he returns that ignites his imagination and changes him forever.

Lyrical prose and glorious illustrations capture the splendor of Baghdad when it was the center of one of the world's great civilizations. They tell the story of Ishaq's transformation from a bewildered young boy searching for understanding to a brilliant scholar, the greatest translator of Aristotle, whose work preserved Greek thought for civilizations to come.

From inside the book

Contents

Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Copyright

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About the author (1999)

Florence Parry Heide was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on February 27, 1919. She studied at Wilson College before transferring to the University of California at Los Angeles, where she received a B.A. in English. She worked in advertising and public relations in New York City before returning to Pittsburgh during World War II. She moved to Wisconsin with her husband after the war and started writing books at the age of 48. She wrote or co-wrote over 100 children's books including the Treehorn series, Princess Hyacinth: The Surprising Tale of a Girl who Floated, and The One and Only Marigold. She also wrote under the pseudonyms Alex B. Allen and Jamie McDonald. Heide received numerous awards and honors including having The Shrinking of Treehorn named by the New York Times as the Best Illustrated Children's Book of 1971 and winning the Jugendbuchpreis for the Best Children's Book of Germany in 1977; The Day of Ahmed's Secret received the Editors' Choice Award from Booklist in 1991, and Sami and the Time of the Troubles received the Editors' Choice Award from Booklist in 1992. She died on October 24, 2011 at the age of 92.

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