Nye, Naomi
Shihab. Habibi. New York: Simon &
Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1997. ISBN: 0-689-80149-1
SUMMARY
Fourteen year-old Liyana Abboud moves from her St. Louis, Missouri home where everything is warm and familiar, to Jerusalem, a city torn with conflict. Her father's family in the West Bank welcome her, her brother, and their mother as if they have known them all their lives, but she feels confused by the drastic contrast between their Palestinian culture filled with traditions and rules and her American culture. Will she be able to adjust to this foreign world of her father's youth?
Fourteen year-old Liyana Abboud moves from her St. Louis, Missouri home where everything is warm and familiar, to Jerusalem, a city torn with conflict. Her father's family in the West Bank welcome her, her brother, and their mother as if they have known them all their lives, but she feels confused by the drastic contrast between their Palestinian culture filled with traditions and rules and her American culture. Will she be able to adjust to this foreign world of her father's youth?
ANALYSIS
Naomi Shihab Nye's young adult novel Habibi tells the tale of Liyana Abboud, a young Arab American teenager who moves to Jerusalem, her father's home. Nye's book stems from her own life. She was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was Palestinian and her mother American. Like Liyana, she moved to Ramallah in Palestine where she attended high school. Drawing from her experiences of living in Palestine, she creates a vivid story of life in modern Jerusalem.
While Liyana adjusts to life in Jerusalem, she begins to realize that her father's city, the center of three major religions, is at the mercy of political conflict. The people she meets everyday seem to want to have peace with one another, yet at the same time they stay apart from each other. While eating at an Arabic restaurant after a day of touring the section of Jerusalem where Christ walked and preached, she comments, "With so much holiness bumping up against other holiness, doesn't it seem strange Jerusalem would have had so much fighting?" Her mother tells her to think about how fighting occurs in families, and Poppy concludes by saying, "I think (Arab and Jews) are bonded for life. Whether they like it or not. Like that kind of glue that wont let go." However, "Liyana noticed Poppy didn't take them over to western Jewish Jerusalem for any kind of tour."
As time passes, Liyana makes friends with Khaled and Nadine, a brother and sister who live in one of the refuge camps for Palestinians. She meets Omer, a Jewish teenage boy who shares many of her likes and philosophies. The most interesting person she meets, though, is Sitti, her grandmother whose traditions and rituals enrich the family's gatherings. Her stories and love for her family draw Liyana into appreciation of the depth of culture from her father's side of her family. Sitti's strength - both emotional and physical - impress Liyana during the times they spend together. She accompanies Sitti to the village well to get drinking water from the well. Sitti fills the clay pot and then balances it on her head and returns to her home - prefering this method of obtaining drinking water for her home to the modern faucet. Sitti has other habits that Liyana finds unusual and fascinating: She talks to angels in her dreams, reads tea leaves for fortunes, and refuses to wear socks because she believes cold feet promote longer life. By using her father as a translator, and sometimes just hand gestures and eye contact for communication, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter strengthens with every visit.
As time passes, Liyana realizes she has found Palestine is as much her home as St. Louis, Missouri. Just as she begins to feel comfortable, the reality of the unpredictable balance between peace and violence erupts in her world. Sitti's home is invaded by Israeli soldiers who are looking for Liyana's cousin, Mahmud. They smash the bathroom fixtures and then leave Sitti with water gushing from broken faucets. The village people and family join to help Sitti put her home together again. Instead of deterring Liyana from wanting to stay in Palestine, she instead becomes determined to be the generation that brings peace to the war-tired land. Her friendship with Omer creates a seed of hope for her and her Arab family that perhaps the younger generation of Arab and Jewish people may hold the key to finding peace.
While Liyana adjusts to life in Jerusalem, she begins to realize that her father's city, the center of three major religions, is at the mercy of political conflict. The people she meets everyday seem to want to have peace with one another, yet at the same time they stay apart from each other. While eating at an Arabic restaurant after a day of touring the section of Jerusalem where Christ walked and preached, she comments, "With so much holiness bumping up against other holiness, doesn't it seem strange Jerusalem would have had so much fighting?" Her mother tells her to think about how fighting occurs in families, and Poppy concludes by saying, "I think (Arab and Jews) are bonded for life. Whether they like it or not. Like that kind of glue that wont let go." However, "Liyana noticed Poppy didn't take them over to western Jewish Jerusalem for any kind of tour."
As time passes, Liyana makes friends with Khaled and Nadine, a brother and sister who live in one of the refuge camps for Palestinians. She meets Omer, a Jewish teenage boy who shares many of her likes and philosophies. The most interesting person she meets, though, is Sitti, her grandmother whose traditions and rituals enrich the family's gatherings. Her stories and love for her family draw Liyana into appreciation of the depth of culture from her father's side of her family. Sitti's strength - both emotional and physical - impress Liyana during the times they spend together. She accompanies Sitti to the village well to get drinking water from the well. Sitti fills the clay pot and then balances it on her head and returns to her home - prefering this method of obtaining drinking water for her home to the modern faucet. Sitti has other habits that Liyana finds unusual and fascinating: She talks to angels in her dreams, reads tea leaves for fortunes, and refuses to wear socks because she believes cold feet promote longer life. By using her father as a translator, and sometimes just hand gestures and eye contact for communication, the bond between grandmother and granddaughter strengthens with every visit.
As time passes, Liyana realizes she has found Palestine is as much her home as St. Louis, Missouri. Just as she begins to feel comfortable, the reality of the unpredictable balance between peace and violence erupts in her world. Sitti's home is invaded by Israeli soldiers who are looking for Liyana's cousin, Mahmud. They smash the bathroom fixtures and then leave Sitti with water gushing from broken faucets. The village people and family join to help Sitti put her home together again. Instead of deterring Liyana from wanting to stay in Palestine, she instead becomes determined to be the generation that brings peace to the war-tired land. Her friendship with Omer creates a seed of hope for her and her Arab family that perhaps the younger generation of Arab and Jewish people may hold the key to finding peace.
AWARDS/REVIEWS
ALA Notable Children’s Books, 1998
Kliatt starred, September 1999
New York Public Library Books for the Teen
Age, 1998
CONNECTIONS
Other books by Naomi Shihab Nye -
Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye and Nancy Carpenter
The Flag of Childhood: Poems from the Middle East
In the classroom:
Naomi Shahib Nye wrote Habibi in 1997. Many critical events have transpired since the book has been written that have affected the lives of the Palestinians and the Israelis. Have students find current event articles telling about the most current events in Jerusalem and the West Bank. How much has changed since this book has been written?
PERSONAL RESPONSE
In the book there is an observation Poppy makes about understanding how the American Indians felt when they were forced to move from their homes. Through this scene in the book, Naomi Shahib Nye opened my mind to the point of view of the Palestinians who became displaced when Israel took control of the region. That a small sliver of land on our planet can be a focus point of such controversy completely confuses me. The history of the Middle East is so complex, though, that I sometimes wonder if a solution will ever be agreed upon for peace.
Other books by Naomi Shihab Nye -
Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye and Nancy Carpenter
The Flag of Childhood: Poems from the Middle East
In the classroom:
Naomi Shahib Nye wrote Habibi in 1997. Many critical events have transpired since the book has been written that have affected the lives of the Palestinians and the Israelis. Have students find current event articles telling about the most current events in Jerusalem and the West Bank. How much has changed since this book has been written?
PERSONAL RESPONSE
In the book there is an observation Poppy makes about understanding how the American Indians felt when they were forced to move from their homes. Through this scene in the book, Naomi Shahib Nye opened my mind to the point of view of the Palestinians who became displaced when Israel took control of the region. That a small sliver of land on our planet can be a focus point of such controversy completely confuses me. The history of the Middle East is so complex, though, that I sometimes wonder if a solution will ever be agreed upon for peace.
Habibi. Cover illustration. Internet
on-line. Retrieved November 10, 2013
from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=ebe7e91e39d0302a0506ca49da053314
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