PROSE BY DAVID KHERDIAN

Recipient of:

Newbery Honor Book
Boston Globe / Horn Book Award
Lewis Carroll Bookshelf Award
Banta Award

Nomination for the American Book Award

For as long as I knew the sky and the clouds, we lived in our white stucco house in the Armenian quarter of Azizya, in Turkey, but when the great dome of Heaven cracked and shattered over our lives, and we were abandoned by the sun and blown like scattered seed across the Arabian desert, none returned but me, and my Azizya, my precious home, was made to crumble and fall and forever disappear from my life.

. . . in reading each of the lyrical passages I feel myself also going back to where I grew up and seeing that we all come from the same place and will return there in due time. I wish I could write a book like this. It makes me feel good and it makes me want to be good, too.

Peter Najarian

The Story of An Awakened Life

This is the first account of the Buddha's story that blends the elements of history, legend, and Buddhist teachings into a compelling narrative.