May is Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month! This yearly recognition was created to pay tribute to the generations of Asian and Pacific Islanders who have enriched America’s history and are integral to its future success. 

As such, it made sense for us to feature Asian countries as our focus of exploration this month. For the month of May, we will journey to the Persian region and explore Iran and Turkey! The Persian Empire is one of the most fascinating civilizations in ancient history. While modern day Persia is known as Iran, many countries such as Turkey, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Kazakhstan were all part of ancient Persia. Our exploration this month will dive into modern day Persia while exploring the history and culture of ancient Persia.

I have always said that an integral part of our mission here at Atlas Book Club is to showcase the diversity that exists within cultures, thereby shattering “the single story.” Our book selections for this month do just that! One selection celebrates the tradition of storytelling and poetry and is based on a character from the Shahnameh, a poem that took over 30 years to write and is one of the greatest epics of world literature. Another is a modern day story of a tween girl who must adjust to life in America after departing her home country of Iran. Our youngest will get a simple yet lovely story of hope in these uncertain times while our oldest group will go on an epic adventure that sprawls across Turkey, West Africa and Europe during the 16th century.

May boxes ship out in a couple of weeks. Join us if you can. It’s not too late!

-Bunmi