About Jirtdan’s Halloween
Jirtdan is a figure from Azerbaijani folklore, a tale familiar to all Azerbaijani people, passed down through generations. Jirtdan is a tiny kid who, despite his size, uses his superior brain to discover innovative solutions to his problems. Originally, in the tale passed through oral storytelling, Jirtdan and his companions venture into the forests to gather firewood and become lost. They are captured by an ogre until Jirtdan tricks the beast and frees them, occupying the ogre until all the children are safely away.
In this twist on the timeless tale, Jirtdan and his friends journey together on a grand adventure to Disneyland.
Similar to the original story, Jirtdan uses his wits to persuade others into doing his chores.
The old and new tales intertwine again when a monstrous ogre captures the kids and holds them hostage. The trickster Jirtdan must exercise his wits to save himself and his friends before it is too late.
The kids in this story bob for Guba apples, see all the fantastic things they’ve never experienced and have a wonderful time in this fascinating new world. With a Halloween twist and just the right amount of spookiness for little readers, this retelling packed with cultural lessons and old traditions is sure to delight and educate readers of all ages.
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Author Bio:
Darya Hodaei is a pharmacist living in Miami with her husband and two kids . She is fluent in Azerbaijani, Turkish, English and Farsi (Persian) and began writing short stories when she was 9 years old. Growing up, she was deprived from having education in her own mother language (Azerbaijani). However, later in life she self-studied and learned how to write and read in her own native language when she became the mother of two young children. She saw how important it was for children to learn their own mother language in order to avoid identity problem in the future, a challenging issue she had experienced first-hand. As an immigrant parent she strongly believes preserving one’s rich ethnic culture especially mother language is a fundamental part of upbringing. To fulfill her commitment to this end, she decided to create “EnglishAzerbaijani” platform using visual aids and Azerbaijani and English equivalents to help children in bi-lingual and multi-lingual environments with their language development. Later, she decided to start publishing her stories for kids in English and Azerbaijani as a step towards encouraging parents and promoting the value of education in mother language.