Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye

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?

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.

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. 

Habibi. Cover illustration. Internet on-line.  Retrieved November 10, 2013 from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=ebe7e91e39d0302a0506ca49da053314

In Our Mothers' House by Patricia Polacco

Polacco, Patricia. In Our Mothers’ House. New York: Philomel Books, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-399-25076-7

SUMMARY

Join the fun at Marmee and Meema ‘s home where love fills every corner and warms the hearts of all who enter. There is never a dull moment with them and their three children. Cooking, singing, dancing, building tree houses – the fun never ends, and the love just grows deeper as the family creates warm and happy memories that will last a lifetime, and beyond. But be warned: There are neighbors who cannot understand that love should not be subjected to restrictions and rules. Can their fears spread to others, or will Marmee and Meema be able to keep peace in the neighborhood?

ANALYSIS

In Our Mother’s House by Patricia Polacco makes a bold statement about the reality of family life in our world today. Daring to break the mold of the stereotype home consisting of the traditional mother and father figurehead who live with their own biological children, Polacco tells the truth about “other” families – the families we don’t talk about in school because they aren’t traditional families.

The parents in this story are both women – a lesbian couple who open their home to three children from other countries. Meema, a pediatrician, and Marmee, a paramedic, provide a balance in the home for their children. Each mother has her own strengths. Meema loves to cook and sew. Marmee, who is very organized, enjoys building and fixing things. Together, the mothers and their children create harmony in the love-filled home.

The story reads like a narrative memoir told in first person by the eldest child. As the narrator tells the readers about the wonderful times growing up with Marmee and Meema, the colorful illustrations that enhance the narrative show extremely happy people. They are always smiling, and in the larger group scenes, someone’s arms are sure to be open wide as if to emphasize the point that all are welcome in their home and neighborhood.

The neighborhood consists of a multicultural group of people who all appreciate each other without judgment. There is one exception, though. A neighbor who does not like her children to be too close to the couple lets her opinion be known on a day where the neighborhood hosts a block party. She pulls her children from the party telling the couple, “I don’t appreciate what you two are.” Marmee and Meema’s children are confused, but Meema tells them, “She is full of fear…She’s afraid of what she cannot understand: she doesn’t understand us.”

In Our Mothers’ House provides a story for children who are growing up in homes with parents who are gay or lesbian couples. Sometimes, it seems a little too perfect, though. The only conflict comes from an outside source, the neighbor who openly disapproves of the couple’s lifestyle. However, as the book concludes, it is clear that the narrator’s purpose is to remember his mothers and to let the world know how much they loved each other, their children, their neighbors and life, and how they taught their children to love without prejudice or fear.

AWARDS/REVIEWS

Library Media Connection, starred October 2009

“…the story serves as a model of inclusiveness for children who have same-sex parents, s well as for children who may have questions about a “different” family in their neighborhood. A lovely book that can help youngsters better understand their world.” – Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, 2009

“…a strong and memorable story of a peaceful, devoted family unit.” Dennis J. LeLopu, Media Specialist, Library Media Connection, October 2009

CONNECTIONS
Patricia Polacco explains why she felt the need to write this story in an interview that she features in her website. Every teacher needs to see this video. Her message about a teacher's influence over children is very powerful.

http://www.patriciapolacco.com/

This book would be a good book to open discussions in a high school setting, where the students' maturity levels can better understand the message of diversity and acceptance. If a teacher wants to read this in an elementary setting, parental permission should be sought in order to appease the administration and parents. It would be a good book to read during Black History Month because it shows how far we have come in having multicultural neighborhoods and families, but also shows we still have a ways to go before we can truly call ourselves an inclusive society.

PERSONAL RESPONSE

I was not sure what to expect when I read this book. As I read it, though, I realized the importance such books have in our schools and libraries. As a middle school teacher, I see less and less “traditional” families. There are more students living with stepparents than ever before, and I am sure that parents like Meema and Marmee are more common than we realize. I think the love message, though was overdone in the book. It reminds me of the fictitious family stories when I was growing up: The perfect family where Father is in charge of providing for the family, Mother is in charge of taking care of the home, and the children are always tidy and clean. I understand why Patricia Polacco did this, but she should have been toned it down just a little to make it a more credible story. I was never quite sure what her purpose was in writing her story because it felt more like a “sales pitch” for accepting alternative lifestyles. After seeing her interview, though, I understood her passion behind the story rose from her compassion for the young student who was chastised by a parent volunteer. I wonder why the teacher did not speak up! I look forward to the day when we don't have to "sell" things and stories can just be stories once again.

In Our Mothers’ House. Cover illustration. Internet on-line.  Retrieved November 10, 2013 from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=ebe7e91e39d0302a0506ca49da053314

Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick

Selznick, Brian. Wonderstruck. New York: Scholastic Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-545-02789-2

SUMMARY

After his mother's death, twelve year-old Ben feels alone and longs to find his father. With only two clues to guide him - a small book about museums and a bookmark with a brief message to his mother from his father - Ben leaves his Minnesota home for New York City. Young Rose, isolated from the world except through what she reads in newspapers and sees through her bedroom window, leaves her New Jersey home and her father to go to New York City so that she may find her mother, a famous silent movie actress. The two deaf children lives parallel each other, but are separated by an expanse of 50 years. Time, though, has a strange way of looping and interconnecting in order to complete circles, and it is in the American Museum of Natural History that Ben and Rose find what they seek.

ANALYSIS

Wonderstruck perfectly describes the feelings of a reader who finishes Brian Selznick’s latest novel for children. In his novel, he tells his readers about two children, Ben and Rose. Each child has a life separated from each other by both location and time. Ben lives in Minnesota during the 1960s and 1970s, and Rose lives in New Jersey during the 1920s. Selznick uses two formats for each storyline: pencil illustrations to tell Rose’s story, and the written word to tell Ben’s story. Each story stands by itself, yet Selznick balances them perfectly so throughout the book a delicate dance between the two stories emerges. The two stories will meet, part, and repeat this pattern until they finally come together in the end.

Both children face the same obstacles in their lives. Rose is completely deaf, and her father keeps her inside to protect her. She spends her time in her bedroom reading and collecting newspaper articles about her famous mother, a silent-movie star whose career keeps her from her family. Rose uses the old newspapers to build a miniature model of New York City, where she longs to be with her mother. Ben, born deaf in one ear, loses hearing in his other ear after a tragic, freak accident. A few months before the accident, he lost his mother in a car accident. The night he lost his hearing, he found a card that suggests his father lives in New York City. Both children throw caution to the wind and set out to take on New York City in order to find their parents.

The setting of Rose's story, New York City in the 1920s, marks the final days of silent movies. Even without occasional intervals of script common to silent-movies, the  audience could easily understand the movies' plots through clever use of action in scenes and the actors' emotions and thoughts by their facial expressions. Selznick uses this same dramatic technique in his artwork to tell Rosa's story. Selznick’s illustrations accurately depict Rose’s hearing impairment and her emotions as she journeys to New York City in her silent world. The careful detail in the illustrations allow the reader to interpret events by using sight – just as young Rose must do in her silent world. 

Ben, however, had partial hearing before he became completely deaf and is able to talk. This causes complications when he arrives in New York City. He orally asks questions, but he is unable to understand what people say back to him. Like Rose, he cannot read lips nor is he familiar with sign language. However, both children are able to read, which allows them to understand what other people are saying when they use writing to communicate with the children.

The resiliency of both Rose and Ben to overcome the communication barrier with other people in order to find answers to their questions gives them the determination to find their absent loved ones. In the halls of the American Museum of Natural History, they find not only answers - but an unexpected meeting of two people whom not even time could keep apart forever.

AWARDS/REVIEWS

ALA Notable Children’s Books, 2012

Parent’s Choice Gold Award, 2011

Scheider Family Book Award, 2012

School Library Journal starred, August 2011

Kirkus Reviews starred, July 2011

“Selznick plays with a plethora of interwoven themes, including deafness and silence, the ability to see and value the world, family, and the interconnectedness of life.” Booklist starred, August 2011

CONNECTIONS

Visit the following website to learn how to finger spell the alphabet. You can even see how to finger spell your name.
The website also includes an interview with Brian Selznick about Wonderstruck.
http://www.scholastic.com/wonderstruck/stars.html

The following web page includes a link to informative essays about places and scenes from Wonderstruck.
http://www.wonderstruckthebook.com/

PERSONAL RESPONSE

While reading Wonderstruck, I was amazed how well Selznick was able to create two stories and then merge them together. After finishing the book, I went back to reread Rose's story. Then, I reread Ben's story. After finishing both for the second time, I truly appreciated the genius put into creating this novel. Each story stands by itself - and the artwork just continues to draw the reader into Rose's story.

Wonderstuck. Cover illustration. Internet on-line.  Retrieved November 10, 2013 from http://www.flr.follett.com/search?SID=ebe7e91e39d0302a0506ca49da053314