Module 6 - HABIBI by Naomi Shihab Nye

Bibliography
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 10-0689825234

Plot Summary
Liyana, a young Arab-American girl about to enter high school from Upstate New York, finds out her family is moving to Jerusalem, her father's homeland, the day after she experiences her first real kiss.  Liyana is upset about leaving her friends and the familiarity of her surroundings; thrown into a brand new life and a vast extended family with deep-rooted beliefs and traditions.   She experiences the struggles for peace between the Arab and Jewish people, including attacks from Israeli soldiers and an exciting friendship with a Jewish boy.  Liyana likes to wonder and write; each chapter is precluded by what Liyana thinks would be a good first line for a poem, movie, or book.  As she settles into life in Israel and begins to make memories of herself there, she realizes there is not much she misses from America.

Critical Analysis
Nye creates warm, realistic characters in Liyana and her family that are relatable to young and adult readers alike.  Nye expertly crafts the experiences of growing up while immersed in an unstable, foreign culture; from building a relationship with a new grandmother to having a star-crossed crush to having a friend shot by a soldier because of a rumor.  Nye depicts the Arab culture in fascinating descriptions and details of family life, beliefs, foods, languages, religion, homes. and people.  Liyana struggles with the differences between her two homes (in America and in Jerusalem) and her father is her conduit to understanding and interacting with her new world.  Nye shows Liyana changing and becoming more comfortable throughout the story.  Her family eat from individual plates and stay close to home at the beginning of the story, while eating communally and branching out to new places towards the end.  The history of the trouble between Arabs, Palestinians, Jews, and Israelis is explained in bits and pieces; background knowledge of the strife is not necessary to understand and enjoy the story.  Nye portrays the challenges of inter-racial relations through Liyana's friendship with a young Jewish boy, who her father is wary of introducing to their extended family for fear of the boys motives.  Through short story-like chapters, Nye poetically illustrates the sights, sounds and smells of Jerusalem through the eyes of a thoughtful young Arab-American girl.
 
Review Excerpts
*Jane Addam's Children's Book Award Winner 1998 (for older children)
School Library Journal: "Though the story begins at a leisurely pace, readers will be engaged by the characters, the romance, and the foreshadowed danger. Poetically imaged and leavened with humor, the story renders layered and complex history understandable through character and incident."

Kirkus: "In her first novel, Nye (with Paul Janeczko, I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You, 1996, etc.) shows all of the charms and flaws of the old city through unique, short-story-like chapters and poetic language. The sights, sounds, and smells of Jerusalem drift through the pages and readers glean a sense of current Palestinian-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history."

Connections
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1994. 19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST. Harper Collins Children's Books. ISBN 10-0060504048