The One and Only Googoosh: Iran’s Beloved Superstar
by Azadeh Westergaard
Viking
An impint of Penguin Random House, LLC
2024
40 pages
9780593114636
Mixed media art using block prints, collage pieces using paper and cardboard, colored pencils and brushes give this picture book biography a definitive texture allowing elements to appear almost in 3-D. Author illustator Azadeh Westergaard captures the sights of her homeland she remembers as a chld, “…snowcapped peaks of the Algorz Mountains,” and the sounds of the streets as vendors sell pomegranate juice, and the aromas as bakers pull out fresh barbari bread. A tiny girl first appears with her father onstage and people are charmed. She gathers national attention as her fan base grows. Googoosh becomes Iran’s favorite singer until war comes, the theaters are shut down, people flee, “the roar and thunder of a revolution… which turns Iran, “…into a typhoon of turmoil.”
People flee their homeland to seek a new life somewhere safe, but they never forget the songs Googoosh sang. They hold them tight and remember a peaceful Iran. Time marches on, “…as the years slipped through our gingers lie the stringed prayer beads our grandfathers used to mark time.” Googoosh is allowed to leave Iran in 2000 and she performs in Toronto, Canada. Generations of Iranians love her music which they hold in their, “collective history andt now exists only in the land of memories.”
Beautiful prose and striking imagery evoke memories of Iran before the revolution. Googoosh is remembered as Iran’s first superstar and is celebrated in this compelling picture book about a famous person in a country’s culture. Non-Iranian people may not know Googoosh, but this children’s book will change that.
Highly recommended for the biography section as well as the children’s picture book section of every library. The One and Only Googoosh is too important a book to miss! A biography of a famous Iranian is important, but even more so here since Googoosh is a famous FEMALE Iranian.
Ages 4 to 8.
