Leyla - The Black Tulip by Alev Lytle Croutier


A review by Irem UNAL

I go to A.B. Combs Leadership Elementary School. There we learn Stephen Covey's 8 habits. At end of this review I hope to be able to analyze the character traits of Leyla by using one of those 8 habits.

This book is about a brave girl called Laleena who leaves her family behind in Georgia by trading herself in as a slave to serve for the Ottoman Empire.

Her father was an artist who was sent to war. He would paint icons and teach Laleena some drawing and painting skills. Although it was forbidden to imitate God's creations in Islam, her father believed that drawing life was a talent. Laleena also had a talent in planting tulips. She and her brother Cengiz would go out to the fields and plant tulips every year. They would also cross-pollinate bulbs to experiment with the different colors they could end up with.

After an adventurous trip to Istanbul, she gets sent to Topkapi Sarayi. In the Ottoman Empire girls of the Harem would have their names changed to a Turkish name. Some girls were named close to their original names but some received a whole different names, for example: a little girl Lena was turned into Semiramis while Laleena was changed into Leyla.

Leyla is brave in many ways. She is brave enough to leave her family behind and attend a festival that she was not invited to. Not only is she brave to leave her family behind but, she is brave enough to journey to a whole new country at age of 13.

Leyla is a very curious person. She will put herself into a life or death situation just to see a festival. Her curiosity soars further in plants. She always is curious to know what colors she can make with cross-pollination.

She is so talented and smart that she taught princess Fatma and her human doll Semiramis how to do calligraphy and draw pictures the way her father taught her to draw.

Leyla is a considerate young person. One example would be that when she won the tulip festival with her black tulip, she was given gold coins by the Sultan. She also received a beautiful blue kaftan.  Later, when she met with her father, she gave her kaftan to him to give to her mother. Instead of keeping the gold coins she insisted to send them to her family.

Leyla was very, very thoughtful on the ship to Istanbul. She accidentally stepped on a little girl named Lena who was just 5 years old. Lena began crying and Leyla picked her up and cradle her like a baby. After that day Leyla was like a temporary mother to Lena.

When Leyla's friend Belkis was moved to another department in the Harem, Leyla made a drawing of a tulip and its growing cycles on a piece of paper as a gift. She did what was forbidden, just to give her friend a goodbye gift. She imitated God's creations.  As a consequent she went into dungeon. This is evidence that she is a selfless and generous person.

I would like to conclude that one of the Covey habits that Leyla applied to her daily life is: "Begin with the end in mind". She probably applied other habits as well, but to me she applied this habit to her life all the time. For example: she began with the end in mind when she traded herself in as a slave, knowing that she would get a reward so that at the end her family would benefit from it. She knew the reward would bring her family wealth. She also began with the end in mind when she decided to cross-pollinate tulip bulbs to get the most beautiful black tulip. This plant later helped her win the prize from the Sultan.

I recommend this book to girls 9 to 15 because it gives an example of how a young girl goes through a great adventure using her character traits. This book will influence girls to be more mature in life and make brave decisions.

Written for the LightMillenium - January 2006