King Burue Changes the Rules by Natalija Bajlo

Genre:  Children, Picture Book, Traditional

Source:  I received a copy to facilitate my review. The opinions expressed here are my own.

The author of the book is an eight year old who has written a wonderful fable.  Goose King Burue is a kind and fair king who always follows the rules.  One day while flying around he met a Japanese Parrot named Kimiko.  He fell in love and asked her to marry him.  Then he realized he had broken one of the rules. The rule stated that only a goose could marry a goose.  He didn’t know what to do. He tried to disguise her to look like a goose, but that did not work.  He flew off to think and find the answer.  He met and talked with many friends.  He met eagle and his companion pelican, then he met bunny and porcupine, finally he met frog and chameleon.  They had all broken the rule.  They understood how important all the rules were except the last one.  The King flew to his grandfather to ask him and met his companion a flamingo.  He learned he could change the rules and that, “kindness, honesty and happiness are not found in the color of someone’s fur or feathers.  I love the lessons taught in this story. This is a simple way of teaching children that you should like someone and treat them kindly based on what is in their heart.  I would gladly read more books by this author.

About the Author

Natalija Bajlo, eight-year-old author of King Burue Changes the Rules, is an extraordinary young lady who is very observant of the world around her. It is with an open heart that she adamantly delivers her message based on how she was taught to treat others. When Natalija is faced with issues at school where kids seem to act quickly to ridicule others, she does the opposite and speaks out on behalf of the one being challenged. The true beauty in her refusal to see the differences in people lends itself to seeing more of the uniqueness in them instead.

About the Illustrator

Illustrator Amene Beheshti, is quite a unique and talented young lady. Born in the Persian province of Qom in 1986, Amene was in love with colors and colorful pencils ever since she created her first drawing. She received her degree in painting from Iran’s Isfahan Art University in September, 2013. Now, Amene works as an illustrator and shows her feelings via her illustrations. When she had the opportunity to read Natalija’s book, Amene felt an instant connection to the meaning of the story that served as inspiration for her delightful drawings of the characters and the world in which they live. Children will be enthralled with the messages in her illustrations and how playful they are with such a creative twist. Amene has many great visual stories to tell through her art. We anticipate seeing much more of her in the near future and look forward to more collaborations.