A delightful picture book inspired by Queen Rania’s childhood. Lily and Salma are childhood friends who do everything together. All school activities are shared and enjoyed every day. They always eat lunch together. However, they each different lunches. Lily always favored a peanut butter and jelly sandwich while Salma enjoyed a hummus and pita sandwich. Each of the girls thought the other’s sandwich looked rather yucky. For the first time the girls did not eat lunch together. The next day insults flew around the lunchroom. Soon the insults had nothing to do with the food but became something “not so nice to say to the other.” The end result was a food fight.
In this book we follow one day’s adventure for two Palestinian children on a curfew free day as they travel from their home in Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Thirteen year old Hayaat and her best friend, Samy, are on a mission. Hayaat is convinced if she could get some soil from her grandmother Sitti’s ancestral home it would save her life.
The news recently has been full of war stories happening in Afghanistan. For many young people the part of the world is unfamiliar. Unfortunately stories out of this country will make headlines and news probably for many years to come. To fill in the gaps for young readers I would highly recommend SHOOTING KABUL by N.H. Senzai (A Paula Wiseman book, Simon and Schuster Book for Young Readers, 2010. $16.99. June 2010).
This story opens as eleven year old Fadi is staring out a cab backseat window one starry night. Fadi, his parents and two sisters are fleeing from Kabul, Afghanistan, heading to Jalalabad in the eastern part of the country. Fadi’s father has given him a charge to watch over his six year old sister, Mariam. The taxi leaves the family at an abandoned site where they will be collected and taken the final part of their journey into Pakistan. When the truck arrives, other refugees hiding at the site rush to board. Fadi refuses to put his sister’s Barbie doll in his jacket and in the confusion she slips out of his hand. She is swept into the crowd and, when they arrive, Mariam is not with them. She has been left behind.
This story combines many diverse elements like biography, poetry and magical realism as it slowly unfolds the life of an extremely uncommon boy. This curious child walks to the beat of a different drummer most assuredly. Paramount in his life however, is the menacing almost presence of his father. This wall of obstinacy counteracts all the creative aspects of this child’s life. The child acts and reacts as an almost terror stricken human. There are times and places though when his creative spirit takes control and our young child thrives and matures.
A new book, MUKTAR AND THE CAMELS by Janet Graber, illustrated by Scott Mack (Henry Holt, 2009, $16.99) takes our young reader into an orphanage on the Kenya and Somalia border. An orphan Muktar dreams fondly of his family when he tended their camels. One day a visitor arrives with camels and books. However one of the camels is injured and Muktar offers his help to the traveler. The traveler is a librarian working for the Kenya National Library Service and not particularly adept at handling camels. Muktar is taken on and promises to return often to the orphanage to replenish their supply of books.
A lovely seasonal book done by two friends of mine is BANSHEE by Eve Bunting, illustrated by Emily Arnold McCulley. (Clarion Books, 2009, $16.00. available now.
Terry is awakened from sleep by a noise. Could it be a night-prowling cat or that horned owl who lives nearby? No, he is convinced it is the Irish legend, the Banshee who wails outside a house when death is near. But who could the Banshee be coming for? Terry’s Ma, his da, or brother Liam? He musters his courage and heads out to beg the Banshee to go away.
Some American school children are up-in-arms after word got out that the school day and year might be extended. As discussion heats up, bring out NASREEN’S SECRET SCHOOL by Jeanette Winter (Beach Lane Books an imprint of Simon and Schuster 2009 $16.99).
In the last year the world lost its collective heart to the children of Mumbai. India. They met some of these young people in the movie SLUM DOG MILLIONAIRE. A new book coming January 2010 gives young readers a chance to really get to know some of these unfortunate children. BOYS WITHOUT NAMES by Kashmira Sheth published by Balzer + Bray (an imprint of HarperCollins) tentative price $15.99.