Color of the Heart

About the Book

As ten-year-old Sara is hurrying home from school on a stormy afternoon, she decides to take a shortcut through the woods. It’s not long before she realizes she’s being followed. When Sara looks in the bushes, she finds a young kitten that takes home to live with her family; she calls the kitten Ginger. Several months later, Ginger delivers a litter of four kittens—one white, one ginger-colored, one black-and-white, and one black—and that’s when the trouble really begins. Sara’s superstitious Grandma Ethel refuses to let her keep the black kitten, named Just Black, because of the bad luck the kitten could bring. Grandma’s stories turn Sara’s neighbors and other friends against Just Black too. Although Sara and her little brother both love Just Black deeply, Grandma Ethel seems determined to get rid of the kitten regardless of what they think. Desperate to convince her grandmother that Just Black isn’t an evil cat, Sara attempts to talk to Grandma Ethel about the black kitten to no avail. But in a matter of life or death, can Just Black redeem herself in Grandma Ethel’s eyes—no matter what the consequences?

About the Author

Simin Tirgari was born in Tehran, Iran. In 1971 she left Iran to go to Edinburgh, scotland to pursue her education. In 1978 she obtained her ph.D in molecular microbiology. Dr. Tirgari returned toTehran to become a faculty member at Tehran University. The Iranian revolution which began in 1979, forced her to leave Iran again. She worked at different Universities in England and Ireland. Her final move occurred in 1982, when she came to the United States to work as a research faculty member at Johns Hopkins University. She has lived in Baltimore ever since. Dr. Tirgari published several fiction and non-fiction stories in her native language, Farsi and has published several scientific journals