The One & Only Googoosh: Iran’s Beloved Superstar
by Azadeh Westergaard; illus. by the author
Primary, Intermediate    Viking    40 pp.
11/24    9780593114636    $18.99
e-book ed.  9780593114643    $11.99

Theatrical scenes in pomegranate reds and peacock greens introduce readers to a young, precocious Googoosh, born Faegheh Atashin, performing in the 1950s with her acrobat father and captivating audiences with her singing. Her rise to stardom and voice “swelling in our hearts like the waves of our beloved Caspian Sea” become inextricably tied to the comfort of culture and home for the people of Iran. But the 1979 revolution shutters performance halls and outlaws women’s singing voices. Stark spreads stripped of color depict turmoil as fleeing Iranians are “scattering across the world like windblown poppies,” their faces shown as disconnected from anything else. These displaced Iranians live quietly, like Googoosh herself, until her return to performing finally gives people a chance to “bear witness” to memory, homeland, yearning, and joy. Complex and painstaking illustrations—tea-dyed paper, block prints of hand-carved stamps, brush pens, colored pencils, and collages of paper and cardboard—showcase the art as a clear labor of love. The text is lyrically and sensorially evocative, conveying devotion to country and pain of separation, and even the use of the second person mimics the formal method of reverence in Farsi. An author’s note, additional information about Googoosh, photographs, and sources are appended.

From the ">January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.