The book contains three stories, titled The Gold Watch, The Prize and The Friends, that are narrated for late elementary and early guidance school children. The first story of the book (The Gold Watch) is the story of two friends called Saeed and Sadegh, who are best friends besides being classmates as well. One day, Sadegh goes to Saeed’s home to study and Saeed’s gold watch goes missing. From this moment on, Saeed suspects his friend and feels that he has stolen his watch. At the end of the story, it is revealed that the crow that has made a nest on the top a tree in their yard has stolen Saeed’s watch. The second story (The Prize), also the book’s namesake, is about a teenage boy trying to get the top scores in the sixth grade final exam hoping that his father would buy him a bike; but financial troubles do not allow his father to honor his promise and buy a bicycle for his son. At the end of the story, the boy finds out about his father’s situation and writes a letter to inform his father that he has given up the bicycle idea. The last story of the book (The Friends) tells the story of a teenager named Yunes, who emigrates with his family from Shiraz to Tabriz, where he is confronted with a strange and weird atmosphere while attending the school in that city and almost cannot cope with it. Yunes does not know the language of the Tabriz students who speak Turkish and this fact makes him seek friendship with another student named Mehdi, who is incidentally a Shiraz native and speaks Yunes’s language. Mehdi is an undisciplined student and encourages Younes to skip the school for a few days, but the school children bring Yunes back to the classroom and their friendship becomes deeper, and Yunes gets interested in the school and the new friends. The author, throughout the stories of this book, depicts the mental world of adolescents and educational spaces so skillfully that the reader finds himself right in the middle of the book’s adventures and thus, gets along with the characters and events of these stories. Book Expert: By any means, we were trying to make it clear to everyone that we were going to take the final exam. In the street and marketplace, wherever we saw our classmates, we began immediately: - “Hey, Hassan. What should we do about the final exam?” - “Hey, Jamal. What day is the final exam due?” And how we said the word-final exam! As if we were talking about the most important and greatest things in the world. Finally, the exam day arrived. I took a bath the day before. I slept earlier than ever at night. That morning, my mother woke me up earlier than ever. She gave me breakfast and brought me my best clothes to wear and also, doubled my pocket money and said, “It might come in handy.” Then, she prayed and blew in my face and held the Quran over my head and told me to kiss it and pass under it. Then she saw me to the door to the alley. She advised me a lot at the doorway. Then, she handed me over to God and closed the front door while incessantly praying for my success. I was left with a piece of white cardboard to put under my exam paper and a paper clip. While I was awfully anxious, I went to my friend Hassan’s home, and the two of us made our way to the school where the exam was taking place. Right down the alley, we pinned the badge for entering the session to our chests with a safety pin. We wanted everyone to know how important we were.

Muhammad Reza Sashar (1953-Kazroun) Muhammad Reza Sarshar is well-known writer and literary critic, studied industrial engineering. A few of his works got published before the Islamic Revolution, but most of them have been released after the Revolution. Sarshar's stories have got a religious ambience. However in some of his books, he made his best to introduce outstanding historical and religious figure. Another theme mostly seen in his works is Iran-Iraq war. He is the member and the chairman of Iran Pen Association. Some of his books have been translated and published in other countries. Among his books are: -Flea in the Oven (2011-Souroush Pubs.), -10 Stories from Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h)(2014-Ghadyani Pubs.), -Look at the Camel (2011), -The Adorable Grandpa (2001-Madrese Pubs.) -Rain or no Rain (1996-Madrese Pubs.)