Habibi

Nye, Naomi Shihab.1997. Habibi. New York: Simon and Schuster. 0689801491.

Plot Summary
Thirteen-year-old Liyana Abboud and her family have decided to leave St. Louis and move to Jerusalem, the place her father grew up. Navigating in a foreign country, her family learns the reality of the conflicts between the Jews and the Arabs, the countrymen and the soldiers. With the help of their extended traditional Arab family living in a nearby rural village, the charming shopkeepers and other new friends they come to love their new home in all it's splendor and complexity.

Critical Analysis
This book was simply enchanting. I drank up her writing like sweet liquid sliding down my throat. The chapter’s titles and headings gave a whimsical glimpse into the heart of the main character, Liyana. For example, “Negotiations: Maybe peace was the size of a teacup” and “History of kissing: I would like to know the story of every little thing.” How delightful.

Habibi is clearly rooted in the cultural identity of the characters involved in the story. As Arab Americans, the Abboud family embarks upon a return to this region with preconceived notions and views of the state of peace and conflict. This is the thread of the story. The family members each learn how to understand themselves, their new gender roles, and their notions of cultural identities through their own lenses as they live in the city of Jerusalem and spend time in the nearby countryside. They each confront their own prejudices as well as their ideals. The author does a beautiful job addressing how each character sees the struggles through their age, roles (mother, child, etc), comfort zones and other means of understanding ones surroundings. Each develops different adaptabilities and these ways enrich the story from all four sides.

The author contrasts the two grandmothers subtly but in a way that establishes how Liyana understands the two sides of her heritage. The journeys inside and outside of the city walls give examples of Bediouns, Armenian educators, Israeli soldiers, refugee camps, Jewish and Arab neighborhoods. This reads a very multicultural rich experience filled with sights, smells, colors, textures and images that draw a vivid portrait of life in this region. There are subtle situations infused into the story giving the reader the sense that people of different backgrounds (mainly the Jews and Palestinians) are living near but in distrust and anger among neighbors. There is no mention of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, but its effects are implied throughout the text (for example, the refugee camps are a cause of this). It is unfortunate that the author did not introduce this important historical context, perhaps as a lesson that Liyana learns in school or something. However, the main characters including the grandmother Sitti, portray how some people do not subscribe to racist, angry and non-peaceful ways of living with others and outwardly rebel with their actions and words.

This is a book that all children should be required to read in school and would lend to some interesting class discussions. I will surely recommend it to many others.

On a personal note: My family uprooted from my home in Washington State and moved to the Virgin Islands in my sophomore year of high school. Although I had no cultural ties to the Caribbean, I understand a teenage culture shock and became a better writer and observer as Liyana did. I could relate to Liyana’s experience of initial longing, mixed emotions, being torn between the old and the new, the known and the unknown and the unfamiliar rules of a new school.

Connections

Additional juvenile books that offer a historical context for children:

• Kamm, Josephine. 1968. The Hebrew People: a history of the Jews
• Clinton, Cathryn. 2002. A stone in my hand.
• Ashabranner, Brent K. 1984. Gavriel and Jemal: two boys of Jerusalem.
• Ashabranner, Brent K. 1991. An ancient heritage: the Arab-American minority

Additional Information
Jane Addams Children's Book Award