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Contemporary Palestine for Children

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Contemporary Palestine for Children BOOKS ABOUT Contemporary Palestine for Children BY KATHARINE DAVIES SAMWAY t was a beautiful fall day for the Dia de los Muertos (Day There aren’t many books available for of the Dead) festival and I was volunteering at a booth K-8 learners about life in Palestine since 1948. There are, however, a few. Although devoted to Palestine and the impact of the Israeli occupa- the quality of the writing varies, they are tion. Crowds of people passed by the booth and many of quite good overall and raise important them stopped to look at the posters and pick up handouts. questions about the Israeli occupation. But what really captured my attention were the children, 9 or I Nonfiction 10 years of age, who were riveted by one particular image—a photo of an Israeli soldier pointing his gun at a Palestinian A Child’s View of Gaza: Palestinian child of about 5. Children’s Art and the Fight Against Censorship is equally compelling for “Mami, Mami! Come and look!” have brought some books and an anno- children, older students, and adults. The Children pulled their parents and older tated booklist to hand out, I acknowl- captioned illustrations were created by siblings into the booth to look more care- edged to myself. But I could think of less Palestinian children who lived through fully at the photo and talk with me about than a handful of possibilities. the Israeli bombardment of Gaza in it. They were horrified that such a young Maybe, I thought, there are good 2008–09. The pictures were drawn as child had such a frightening experience. books out there for K-8 learners that part of an effort to help children deal Talking with the children and their I’m not familiar with, and so I began to with the horrors they had experienced. families, I learned that they didn’t know scour my local libraries. I ordered books A Bay Area nonprofit, Middle East much, if anything, about that part of the through interlibrary loan, read books rec- Children’s Alliance (MECA), arranged Middle East. As I tried to explain some of ommended by friends, and reread books to display a collection of these pictures the key events that led to the photo, and that I already owned. What did I learn? at the Museum of Children’s Art in why it is important for Americans to be I discovered that there are several Oakland, California. However, under informed, I realized that we had no in- nonfiction books about life in ancient pressure from the Jewish Federation of formation written for children. I should Palestine. There are also many nonfic- the East Bay and other organizations, the tion books about modern-day Israel that museum backed out of the agreement ____________________________________ serve as propaganda for Israel and do not at the last minute. MECA held an “art Katharine Davies Samway is a recently treat the plight of Palestinians honestly exhibit as demonstration” in front of the retired professor of education specializing in and comprehensively. These books tend museum and then moved the exhibit to a literacy learning and teaching, with a focus on multicultural children’s and young adult to be dense, with a lot of complex histori- nearby storefront. A Child’s View of Gaza literature. She is active in efforts to bring a cal information jammed into a few pages includes a foreword by Alice Walker. just peace to Palestine. and a sprinkling of photos. The children’s pictures are detailed, 52 > WINTER 2012–2013 Illustration from A Child’s View from Gaza by Mona Atif Hamdan, 11 years old RETHINKING SCHOOLS > 53 Collage from The Boy and the Wall by the children of the Lajee Center. colorful, and provide a matter-of-fact found the handwritten cursive text dis- ing relationship between a child and her yet powerful window into the reality tracting, but the content and illustrations grandmother. of being a child under attack by planes, are powerful—each double page merits Amahl Bishara’s The Boy and the bombs, and soldiers. its own intensive discussion. Wall, written in English and Arabic, is Another nonfiction book that relies about life in Aida, a Palestinian refugee on firsthand experience of the occupa- Picture Books camp near Bethlehem, where the lives of tion is the picture book Outside the Ark: Palestinians were turned upside down An Artist’s Journey in Occupied Palestine, Naomi Shihab Nye is an award-winning when Israel built a huge concrete separa- by Ellen O’Grady, an artist-activist who poet whose father was a Palestinian ref- tion wall (called an apartheid wall by for- worked for six years in the occupied ugee—as a teenager her life was divided mer President Jimmy Carter and Arch- West Bank and Gaza. O’Grady tells the between Jerusalem and San Antonio, bishop Desmond Tutu, among others). stories of Palestinians she knew, includ- Texas. In Sitti’s Secrets, Mona, who lives In a rhythmic speak-and-respond struc- ing 8-year-old Mahmoud, who was in America, goes to visit her grand- ture modeled on Margaret Wise Brown’s killed by Israeli bullets, and 69-year-old mother in a Palestinian village in the oc- The Runaway Bunny, a Palestinian child Salwa, who is unable to see her daughter, cupied West Bank. Although Mona does talks with his mother about what he can who lives in Jordan and is prohibited by not speak a shared language with her do to help his community overcome the Israel from returning to her village. Al- grandmother (Sitti in Arabic), they are impact of the wall and all that it brings, though this is a picture book, teachers able to communicate through gestures, including soldiers with guns and tear may find that it is most appropriate for music, and actions. It is a beautifully gas canisters. His mother’s responses un- older elementary students. I sometimes written and illustrated book about a lov- derscore her love for him and Palestinian 54 > WINTER 2012–2013 traditions and culture, and the resilience boys take off for safety. However, Karim be allowed to use. When Amani’s mother of Palestinians under occupation. For ex- sprains his ankle and is unable to escape; returns to Palestine from visiting her dy- ample, when the boy says, “Or maybe I he ends up hiding inside the abandoned ing mother in Canada, she is repeatedly will become a mountain so that I can be car, where he is trapped for several days. denied re-entry at the Jordanian border. bigger than the wall, and see over it,” his The author, a well-known British writer It is only after several days of this intimi- mother replies, “If you become a moun- of books for young adults who lived in dation that she is allowed back to her tain and become bigger than the wall . I Ramallah while doing research for this home and family. will become a farmer and plant olive trees book, does a particularly good job of A subplot focuses on Jonathan, a and tend to you and live from the olives conveying the friendship and shared in- 16-year-old Jewish American who lives y ou b e ar.” terests of the boys and the tension that is with his father on the illegal settlement, An introduction provides informa- created for Palestinians by life under the hates what his people are doing to Pales- tion about the Aida Refugee Camp and Israeli occupation. tinians, and returns to New York City to life under occupation, including the Canadian author Anne Laurel Cart- become an anti-occupation activist. impact on Palestinians of the apartheid er wrote The Shepherd’s Granddaughter This book does a good job of por- wall (e.g., separating Palestinians from after living in both Israel and Palestine. traying life under occupation from the their family members and friends, their Amani is a young girl who lives with her perspective of a plucky young Palestin- land, their work, medical care, religious extended family in a West Bank village ian girl. Amani witnesses disagreements sites, and open land where children can and wants to follow in the footsteps of within her extended family around play). The illustrations are by children her grandfather and become a shepherd. whether to trust Israelis who oppose from Aida. She and her family experience terrifying the occupation and whether to engage situations when a group of illegal Jew- in peaceful or armed struggle, which Novels ish settlers occupy a hill overlooking the creates an additional context for critical village. Under the protective eyes of Is- thinking and discussion among students. Elizabeth Laird’s A Little Piece of Ground raeli soldiers, the settlers poison Amani’s Where the Streets Had a Name, by is particularly good. It is set in Ramallah, sheep; destroy her family’s ancient olive, Randa Abdel-Fattah, an Australian of just north of Jerusalem in the occupied fig, and lemon trees; appropriate their Palestinian and Egyptian heritage, tells West Bank. After a bombing in Israel, land and water sources; and threaten the story of 13-year-old Hayaat, who Ramallah is under a strict Israeli curfew and people are prevented from leaving their homes for days at a time. The main character, Karim, is a 12-year-old boy Reading books about contemporary Palestine and the from a Muslim family who lives in town Israeli occupation may raise conflicting points of view, and is crazy about soccer. His best friend, but that is part of supporting students to become Joni, is from a Christian family and is also crazy about soccer.
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