The Contest: Mini-Review

The Contest is an Armenian folktale adapted and illustrated by Nonny Hogrogian. The book was a Caldecott Honor Book in 1977. This colorful book tells the tale of two robbers, Hmayag and Hrahad who meet by accident under a pomegranate tree. As they begin to talk and eat their lunches, they see that they each have identical items in their pouches. And then they discover that they share a line of work. And that's not all they share--they are both engaged to the same girl, Ehleezah, who has prepared those identical lunches. Obviously, they both can't have her, so they devise a contest with the winner maintaining his engagement to Ehleezah. The tasks they set themselves truly test their thieving mettle. But the results of the contest and the decisions they make at the end are not quite what they expect. Both the thieves and the reader are surprised.

Beautiful illustrations set the stage for the story and children of all ages will be delighted. ★★★