Habibi

by Naomi Shihab Nye
1997
259 pages

     Read this book...It's crazy when a gem like this has escaped my attention.  This is a book that I will recommend to many students, parents and teachers this year.   Really everyone should read it because it says so much about conflict, resolution, peace and religion-all hot button topics and dealt with so well by Ms.. Nye.

Indiebound Synopsis:

The day after Liyana got her first real kiss, her life changed forever. Not because of the kiss, but because it was the day her father announced that the family was moving from St. Louis all the way to Palestine. Though her father grew up there, Liyana knows very little about her family's Arab heritage. Her grandmother and the rest of her relatives who live in the West Bank are strangers, and speak a language she can't understand. It isn't until she meets Omer that her homesickness fades. But Omer is Jewish, and their friendship is silently forbidden in this land. How can they make their families understand? And how can Liyana ever learn to call this place home?



My thoughts:

     Arrrrgggghhhh!!  *%%$##@!!  Not very peaceful like at all but I had several well-thought out paragraphs written out with 4 interesting quotes highlighting Naomi Shihab Nye's poetic writing and it all disappeared when I pushed "publish post." Just disappeared-everything that I'd written in the last hour. Arrrgghhh, again!!
      I have to prepare a dish for a women's party I'm going to tonight and clean my step-daughter's room for her evening arrival so I Don't Have Time to Go Back and Rewrite it all!  I leave you with this...many should read this book about an area of the world that is still in crisis.  Naomi Shihab Nye is obviously very talented and I plan to purchase this book for my school library and I plan to bring it to the  attention of my 5th grade book club.  It will make for great discussion.  Now I feel a little like crying.  Has a  post ever disappeared for you??  I guess the greater question is "where did my words just go, floating out there in cyberspace...???" 


Shop Indie Bookstores