Amalia.
Find a number of reviews below:
Book Report
www.linworth.com "Is a Jew a Palestinian? Is a Palestinian a Jew?
Where does one begin to answer such a question?" This query by Anndee
Hochman, one of several that preface this excellent novel,
encapsulates the difficult theme of the story. Liyana Abboud, 14, is
uprooted from her life in St. Louis when her Palestinian father, a
physician, decides to return to Jerusalem where he was born. The move
is, naturally, a culture shock for Liyana, her younger brother, and
her American-born mother. The history of Jerusalem with its
cross-section of cultures, the conflicts between the Israelis and
Palestinians, the grandmother and extended family living on the West
Bank whom Liyana has never met--all these contribute to the great
upheaval in her life. She attends an Armenian school, feeling
uncertain and unable to understand the languages around her She has
difficulty learning to deal with her grandmother ("Sitti") and the
culture of the extended family She does not understand when Israeli
soldiers, looking for a relative suspected of terrorism, invade
Sitti's house and destroy her bathroom. She is horrified when an
innocent friend is shot in the leg and her father, after intervening,
ends up spending the night in jail. Yet she also meets and loves
Omer, a Jewish boy Her family's acceptance of him encourages them
both to believe peace is possible between these two peoples. This
book is an outstanding look at what it is like to be a young person
in Palestine today It is rich in detail, personalizes the complex
tensions of the Middle East, and leaves the reader with a sense of
hope for peaceful resolutions. An important book for our collections.
Highly Recommended. Rosemary Knapp, Library Media Specialist, Camas
(Washington) High School ? 1998 Linworth Publishing, Inc.
Booklist Reviews
Gr. 6^-10. What is it like to be young in Palestine today? That is
the focus of this stirring docunovel, which breaks new ground in YA
fiction. Liyana Abboud, 14, moves with her family from St. Louis to
Jerusalem. For her physician father, it is going home to where he was
born and educated. To Liyana, her younger brother, and her American
mother, it is a huge upheaval. At first Liyana misses the U.S., can't
speak the languages, and feels uncertain at school, "tipped between"
the cultures. She is awkward with her bossy grandmother ("Sitti") and
overwhelmed by her huge extended family when she visits their village
on the West Bank. The military occupation is always there and the
simmering conflict between Jew and Arab. In one horrifying scene,
Israeli soldiers tear into Sitti's house and smash her bathroom. In a
climactic episode, after a Palestinian bomb has injured civilians,
the Israelis shoot an innocent boy in the leg, and Liyana's father is
held in prison overnight. Yet it doesn't have to be that way. Liyana
meets and loves a Jewish boy, and together they join the Jews and
Arabs trying to make peace.Nye is an Arab American author and
anthologist, and, as in her fine essay collection, Never in a Hurry
(1996), she writes from a unique perspective, as the American
newcomer/observer and as the displaced Palestinian in occupied
territory. The story is steeped in detail about the place and
cultures: food, geography, history, shopping, schools, languages,
religions, etc. Just when you think it is obtrusive to have essays
and journal entries thrust into the story, you get caught up in the
ideas and the direct simplicity with which Nye speaks. She does try
to cover too much--no book can tell the whole story of the Middle
East--but this is a story that makes us "look both ways." ((Reviewed
September 15, 1997)) Copyright 2000 Booklist Reviews
Horn Book Magazine Reviews
www.hbook.com When Liyana Abboud is fourteen, her father decides that
the time is right to move the family from St. Louis to his native
Jerusalem; before she knows it, Liyana is studying Arabic in school
and baking bread in a giant outdoor oven with Sitti, her Arab
grandmother. Inevitably, Arab-Israeli tensions enter into the story:
Israeli soldiers ransack and destroy much of Sitti's house one day,
and later, Liyana's doctor father is briefly arrested for trying to
protect a young Palestinian boy shot by soldiers. Liyana's attraction
to and eventual friendship with a boy whom she is shocked to discover
is Jewish, not Arab, is believably rendered, as is the unexpectedly
warm welcome he ultimately receives from Sitti. The message isn't
preachy and remains almost secondary to the story of Liyana's search
for her identity as she goes from feeling homesick to feeling very
much at home. Habibi, or darling, is what Liyana's father calls her
and her younger brother; it is a soothing, loving word, and Liyana
gradually finds herself comfortable "living in the land of Habibi,"
where she is showered with love by her huge extended family. The
leisurely progression of the narrative matches the slow and stately
pace of daily life in this ancient land, and the text's poetic turns
of phrase accurately reflect Liyana's passion for words and language.
j.m.b. Copyright 1999 Horn Book Magazine Reviews
Publishers Weekly Reviews
www.cahners.com This soul-stirring novel about the Abbouds, an Arab
American family, puts faces and names to the victims of violence and
persecution in Jerusalem today. Believing the unstable situation in
that conflict-ridden city has improved, 14-year-old Liyana's family
moves from St. Louis, Mo., to her father's homeland. However, from
the moment the Abbouds are stopped by Jewish customs agents at the
airport, they face racial prejudice and discord. Initially, Nye
(Never in a Hurry) focuses on the Abbouds' handling of conflicting
cultural norms between American and Arab values as they settle into
their new home (e.g., Liyana's father, Poppy, while forbidding her to
wear "short" shorts, reacts in anger toward a relative who asks for
Liyana's hand in marriage). Then Liyana tests her family's alleged
unprejudiced beliefs when she befriends Omer, a Jewish boy. She wants
to introduce him to her father (who taught her, "Does it make sense
that any God would choose some people and leave the others out?...
God's bigger than that!"), but finds she must first remind him of his
own words. Nye expertly combines the Abbouds' gradual acceptance of
Omer with a number of heart-wrenching episodes of persecution (by the
different warring factions) against her friends and family to convey
the extent to which the Arab-Israeli conflict infiltrates every
aspect of their lives. Nye's climactic ending will leave readers
pondering, long after the last page is turned, why Arabs, Jews,
Greeks and Armenians can no longer live in harmony the way they once
did. Ages 10-up. (Oct.) Copyright 1998 Publishers Weekly Reviews
School Library Journal Reviews
www.cahners.com An important first novel from a distinguished
anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native
Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family
back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is
unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are
gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and
immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a
prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love
with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and
tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the
background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It
builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the
surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by
Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by
Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot
and her father jailed. Nye introduces readers to unforgettable
characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the
grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is
Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and
Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. Though
the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the
characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically
imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex
history understandable through character and incident. Habibi
succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and
concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother
Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside." Kate McClelland,
Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT Copyright 1998 School Library
Journal Reviews
Voice of Youth Advocates Reviews
Liyanna Abboud is fourteen when her parents announce that the family
is moving from St. Louis, the only home Liyanna has ever known, to
Jerusalem, her father's birthplace. The Abbouds are welcomed by her
father's sprawling extended Arabfamily in their West Bank village.
New family, country, languages, and customs do not seem to faze
Liyana nor her brother, Rafik, much. It is the lack of peace and the
lack of empathy between the Jews and Arabs that are the main sources
of angst forLiyanna and her family and friends.
This story is told mainly from sensitive, introspective Liyanna's
point of view, with a few disrupting shifts to those of her parents,
Rafik, and her grandmother. This shifting viewpoint is a sign of the
obtrusiveness of the author's agenda, asthe question of just who has
the "right" god is pondered. Although this heavy-handed approach
might not be obvious to younger teens, a less didactic tone and more
well-rounded characters would improve both the quality of the book
and the reader'sability to enjoy it. However, glimpses of everyday
life in a holy city and of how Arabs live in present-day Israel
provide an interesting backdrop, and Liyana's vaguely mystical Arab
grandmother is simply charming. Habibi is an Arabic wordmeaning
"darling" and the oft-used term of endearment Liyanna and Rafik's
parents use for their children. $MD Marcia Mann. Copyright 1998 Voya Reviews
L'shalom,
Russel M. Neiss
Librarian
Rodeph Sholom School - New York, NY
Messages and opinions expressed on Hasafran are those of the individual author
and are not necessarily endorsed by the Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL)
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