Lukas is liever lui dan moe. Hij spendeert zijn laatste geld aan een rondtrekkende tovenaar Battisto, om te zien wat hij kan toveren. De tovenaar duwt Lukas met zijn gezicht in een bak water en Lukas ontwaakt zwemmend in de zee aan de kust van een vreemd land, waar hij tot koning uitgeroepen wordt en in vele avonturen verzeld raakt.

Een spannend verhaal, vlot geschreven met humor. ( )

What a wonderful tale! Lukas-Kasha is quite a scamp, and always seems to make friends...maybe because he can see the good in others. I tagged this "pacifism' because Lukas went out of his way to find a solution to the conflict between 2 countries without resorting to war. He is able to rephrase issues in a manner that makes people rethink their perceptions. e.g. when 2 groups were calling each other 'dirty camels' and 'filty goats', Lukas extolled the virtues of each animal, and proclaimed the groups "Queen's own goats" and "King's worthy camels" (or some such, not having a print copy now). Then he added that since neither group had bathed in a while, the adjectives were merely fact. ( )

The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha is the tale of transformation.

A young worthless scamp is thrust into the kingship of an Arabian-style country. His few values influence his country, and his country's values influence him, and his advisors' lack of values push him to find more of his own.

It's not as dry as all that, though! The First Two Lives of Lukas-Kasha is about

When his reforms go awry, Lukas flees across the desert in search of the land of jewels to help the people that his greedy advisors sought to conquer.

Lukas' wit and hilarity bring laughter, light, and joy to potentially dark moments.

A well-written book for all ages, not just children.

(Potential parental note: an astrologer does appear as a minor character multiple times, but little credit is given to his predictions and he admits that his calculations don't work. Also, Lukas does trick people to steal from them multiple times, but after he reforms, he only steals back things that have been stolen from him in order to prevent bloodshed. He attempts restitution by the end.) ( )