The Ghoul (Arabic Children's Book)

The Brave lad Hassan decides to face the scary Ghoul that has struck fear in people's hearts for many many years. Will Hasan succeed in his dangerous mission?

Will he be able to liberate his people from the nightmare of fear that has defined their lives for so long.

An Arabic folklore the Ghoul is usually depicted as a fearsome merciless creature that eats people up.

A long time ago, stories about the ghoul were told to children on winter nights around a fire.

They stimulated their imagination and put a face to their innermost fears acting as a catharsis of sorts.

Sadly some parents quickly took the easy way and utilized the fear of the Ghoul to make their children behave saying to their kids: "If you do not behave then the ghoul will come and gobble you up."etc..thus giving the Ghoul a bad reputation as a mythical figure for writers to utilize in children literature.

Until this day we find that many teachers and parents refuse to pick up a book about the Ghoul for their children thinking that it must be just a book that is designed to put fear in children's hearts no more.

The "Ghoul" written by Taghreed Najjar and illustrated by Hassan Manasrah utilizes the ghoul to talk about how we perceive people and creatures who are different.

How our fears and prejudices may be built on false assumptions.

The story is about a village that is paralyzed by fear of the ghoul who lives on top of the mountain.

Nobody has seen it or been harmed by it but people are terrified of it and walk on tiptoe and whisper to each other so as not to disturb the fearsome Ghoul Hassan is a lad who is sick of it all.

He investigates the matter more and decides to find the truth about the Ghoul himself and release the villagers from the fear that has taken over their lives.

The twist in the story is that when Hassan finally meets the Ghoul he discovers that the Ghoul is just as terrified of people as they are of him and for the very same reasons- because they don't look like him.