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Secret of the Seventh Gate
- Author:
- Spire, Hazel
- Subjects:
- History; Adventure; Cross-cultural understanding; Expatriots; Iranian Revolution
- Geography:
- Iran
- Age:
- 12, 13, 14, 15
- Grade:
- 7, 8, 9
- Order code:
- 5418
- Price:
- $9.99
- Online Price:
- $7.99
- Class sets:
- 10 or more: $7.00 each. (Order code: 5418S)
'Fast paced... high adventure... keeps readers attention to the very last word. A remarkable adventure book and we highly recommend it.' Childrens Bookwatch of the Midwest Book Review
Originally from Texas, Jandy Graham is in eighth grade in Iran, where she has lived for three years while her father works on a dam. Her best friend is Maryam, an Iranian classmate. Their happy excitement about the school play turns to fear when Maryam’s practice tape of her dance music turns out to be an Ayatollah Khomeini speech against the Shah of Iran. Suddenly the girls are swept up into the changing atmosphere of Iran: Maryam’s mother begins wearing traditional cover-up women’s clothing; anti-west protest mounts; people begin carrying posters of Khomeini in parades; American expatriots become targets and are warned to “go home;” the Shah’s statue is pulled down; and finally, the Shah is deposed by militants.
Mr. Graham is ordered to pack his family for home, but his passport is missing and a note on his desk warns that he is to be tried as a spy. The search for the missing passport makes the family miss the last bus to the airport in Abadan. A true friend, Maryam’s father attempts to drive the Grahams to the airport as bullets whiz around them. His tire is shot out, and Maryam’s uncle Gholam offers to help. He drives fast and furiously, all-the-while cursing foreigners and the Shah and giving the Grahams some insight into the militant’s viewpoint of the Shah’s regime: torture and the SAVAC, the Shah’s secret police. Finally at the airport, the Grahams must pay an exorbitant airport tax to be allowed to race to their plane. A suitcase is dropped and instantly grabbed by a mob of demonstrators. After pushing and pulling to get on board, Jandy has a chance to open the book Maryam gave her marked with a Persian proverb, “The best thing you can bring back from your travels is yourself unharmed.” The family will be back safely in Texas in time for Christmas with grandma. Intrigue is woven throughout the story, as is the theme of two families finding friendship and a cross-cultural understanding.
Hazel Spire met her Texan husband in Iran. She has won literary awards on both sides of the Atlantic. She lives in Dallas, Texas.
'Fast paced... high adventure... keeps readers attention to the very last word. A remarkable adventure book and we highly recommend it.' Childrens Bookwatch of the Midwest Book Review
Originally from Texas, Jandy Graham is in eighth grade in Iran, where she has lived for three years while her father works on a dam. Her best friend is Maryam, an Iranian classmate. Their happy excitement about the school play turns to fear when Maryam’s practice tape of her dance music turns out to be an Ayatollah Khomeini speech against the Shah of Iran. Suddenly the girls are swept up into the changing atmosphere of Iran: Maryam’s mother begins wearing traditional cover-up women’s clothing; anti-west protest mounts; people begin carrying posters of Khomeini in parades; American expatriots become targets and are warned to “go home;” the Shah’s statue is pulled down; and finally, the Shah is deposed by militants.
Mr. Graham is ordered to pack his family for home, but his passport is missing and a note on his desk warns that he is to be tried as a spy. The search for the missing passport makes the family miss the last bus to the airport in Abadan. A true friend, Maryam’s father attempts to drive the Grahams to the airport as bullets whiz around them. His tire is shot out, and Maryam’s uncle Gholam offers to help. He drives fast and furiously, all-the-while cursing foreigners and the Shah and giving the Grahams some insight into the militant’s viewpoint of the Shah’s regime: torture and the SAVAC, the Shah’s secret police. Finally at the airport, the Grahams must pay an exorbitant airport tax to be allowed to race to their plane. A suitcase is dropped and instantly grabbed by a mob of demonstrators. After pushing and pulling to get on board, Jandy has a chance to open the book Maryam gave her marked with a Persian proverb, “The best thing you can bring back from your travels is yourself unharmed.” The family will be back safely in Texas in time for Christmas with grandma. Intrigue is woven throughout the story, as is the theme of two families finding friendship and a cross-cultural understanding.
Hazel Spire met her Texan husband in Iran. She has won literary awards on both sides of the Atlantic. She lives in Dallas, Texas.
