It all starts with a jar of jam. Twelve-year-old Jalal simply wants to eat his morning breakfast including the jam he has purchased with his own money. There's only one problem: no matter how he tries, he cannot get the jar open - and neither can his mother, the neighbor upstairs, the children at school, the principal, his teachers, the corner grocer, the factory distributor, the police officer or any of the neighbors.This story is a humorous lesson on how one seemingly small event impacts each successive event, how small things become blown all out of proportion, and how one should never count one's chickens before they hatch.
About the Author: Houshang Moradi-Kermani was born in 1944 in Sirch Village near the city of Kerman in south central Iran. After completing elementary school in his village and middle school in Kerman, he studied dramatic arts in Tehran where he subsequently attended university, finally earning a B.A. in English translation. He began his career in the arts on the radio in Kerman and Tehran in 1961. Numerous works by Houshang Moradi Kermani have been published including The Stories of Majid, Children of the Carpet Weaving House, The Palm, The Water Urn, Fist on Hide, The Tandoor and Other Stories, Anar's Smile, Mommy's Guest, The Cruse, Sweet Jam, Like the Full Moon, Nine of Each Kind, You're No Stranger Here, Rice and Stew, and The Water Storage. His works have been translated into English, French, German, Spanish, Dutch, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Korean, Greek and Turkish. His books have resulted in thirty eight television serial episodes and feature films for cinema, and have been entered in domestic and foreign film festivals. Houshang Moradi Kermani has won many awards for his works such as the Book of the Year, awarded by the Ershad Ministry of Culture, as well as many other awards from various bodies such as the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults, the Children's Book Council, the Fajr Film Festival, the Esfahan Children's and Young Adult's Film Festival, the Association for the Protection of Children's Rights, and the Headquarters of the Respected Supreme Leader. Translations of his works have won numerous awards from many foreign cultural and art institutes such as, the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), the Jury for the Hans Christian Anderson (1992 Berlin - Distinguished Author), C.P.N.B. (Collective Promotion for the Dutch Book), the Institute for German Youth, the Austrian Ministry of Culture and Art, Switzerland's Blue Cobra Book Award, the "Jose Martini" literary award of Costa Rica, the Munich and Sweden International Libraries, Unicef and was nominated for the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (ALMA). He is a member of the Kerman Studies Foundation and a standing member of the Persian Language and Literature Academy. He is a university professor. In 2005, he won recognition as one of Iran's lasting and influential literary figures in the field of literature for children and young adults.