TEHRAN – Iran’s Institute for Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults has recently released a Persian translation of Katherine Applegate’s “Wishtree”.

The book, which has illustrations by Iranian artist Morteza Yazdani-Asl, has been translated into Persian by Bahareh Alizadeh-Sabur.

The story is about Red, an oak tree who is many rings old. Red is the neighborhood “wishtree” — people write their wishes on pieces of cloth and tie them to Red’s branches. Along with her crow friend Bongo and other animals who seek refuge in Red’s hollows, this “wishtree” watches over the neighborhood.

You might say Red has seen it all, until a new family moves in. Not everyone is welcoming, and Red’s experiences as a wishtree are more important than ever.

The book was originally published in 2017 by Feiwel & Friends. Iranian publishers Tirgan and Porteqal have earlier published other Persian translations of “Wishtree” by Shaqayeq Alipur and Anahita Hazrati.

Applegate’s “The One and Only Ivan” and “Crenshaw” have also been published in Persian.

“The One and Only Ivan” won the 2013 Newbery Medal. “Crenshaw” also spent over twenty weeks on the New York Times children’s bestseller list.

Applegate’s first middle-grade stand-alone novel, the award-winning “Home of the Brave”, continues to be included on state reading lists, summer reading lists and class reading lists.

Applegate has written three picture books: “The Buffalo Storm”, “The Remarkable True Story of Ivan, the Shopping Mall Gorilla” (often used as a companion book to The One and Only Ivan for younger readers) and “Sometimes You Fly” (published in spring, 2018). For beginning readers, Katherine wrote “Roscoe Riley Rules”, a seven-book series.

With her husband, Michael Grant, Katherine co-wrote “Animorphs”, a long-running series that has sold over 35 million books worldwide.

Katherine lives in Marin County, California with her family.

Photo: A poster for the Persian translation of Katherine Applegate’s “Wishtree”.

MMS/YAW