Review of HABIBI

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 0689801491.

PLOT SUMMARY
On the day after Liyana’s first kiss, her parents announce that the family is leaving St. Louis to live in her father’s homeland. Fourteen year old Liyana is reluctant to leave her friends and a country she understands to move to Jerusalem and learn how to live in a new culture. Although initially hesitant, Liyana eventually embraces her father’s family and creates her own story in Jerusalem.

CRITICAL ANALYSIS (INCLUDING CULTURAL MARKERS)
Naomi Shihab Nye draws from her own teenage experience as an Arab-American moving to Jerusalem in her award winning novel. Nye richly describes the characters, setting, culture, and tensions found in this ancient city. Her thoughtful commentary on the tense relations between Arabs and Jews allows readers to construct a more complete picture of this conflict.

Nye utilizes many cultural markers to ensure the authenticity of her story, but her detailed characterization is perhaps the strongest element in the story. Her characters are well rounded and complex. Physical descriptions are both varied and accurate. The author takes care to examine the facial features of the characters. Liyana describes herself as the half-half American girl with Arab eyes. Both Liyana and her brother Rafik look more like their Palestinian father than their American mother. Liyana’s relatives living in the West Bank village wear more traditional clothing and hair styles, while Liyana’s immediate family and friends in the city tend to look more contemporary. The setting of these two locations could not be more different. Liyana’s grandmother lives simply in her rural village without a lot of modern appliances, while her granddaughter’s house near the city is similar to most Western homes.

Physical descriptions are just the beginning of Nye’s rich characterization. Emotions range from peaceful acceptance to outspoken anger at the inequities found in Jerusalem. Sitti, Liyana’s grandmother, embodies peace and leads her family to accept her granddaughter’s Jewish friend. Liyana’s father is less optimistic, but still actively strives to open the lines of communication and urges both Jewish and Palestinian people to work towards peace. Even though the cycle of violence between these two cultures is constantly in the background of the story, Nye’s descriptions of her characters’ feelings represents the desires of many people caught in this conflict. Children can gain a better understanding of the sufferings inflicted on both Palestinians and Jews and their shared wish for peace.

Nye chooses to reveal most of the plot development through Liyana’s discussions, both internal and external. Liyana’s tendency to engage in deep reflection is best demonstrated through her poetic journal entries. She has the unique talent of looking at ordinary situations from a different perspective. As she marvels at the ability of her grandmother to share peace across her dinner table, Liyana ponders, “Maybe peace was the size of a teacup.”

Liyana’s journal entries also serve to illuminate the conflict seething around her, by describing the violence from the Palestinian side. Many American readers may not automatically sympathize with Middle Easterners after the strained relations of the past several years, but Nye allows children to enter this world through the eyes of an American girl, someone quite similar to themselves. As Liyana learns about her new culture and begins to find her place in Jerusalem, as an Arab-American seeking peace, the reader also learns more about the cultures found in this city. Through it all, Liyana’s growing romance with a Jewish boy symbolizes the hope for a peaceful future between Palestinians and Jews. Nye is able to strip away old prejudices and share the heart of a people quite different from most Americans.

Nye also uses language to help immerse the reader in the Arab culture. Liyana is frequently experimenting with Arabic as she learns the language. Arabic words for greetings, traditional artifacts, clothing, and food are sprinkled throughout the story. Religious ceremonies are also a significant part of the book. Different characters express their devotion in various ways. For instance, Liyana’s Sitti talks about making a pilgrimage to Mecca. The characters also freely borrow musical styles and food choices from other cultures within the city.

Naomi Shihab Nye has succeeded in sharing this unique, but troubled, city with her readers. Her rich insider perspective of the various cultures of Jerusalem allows children to better understand the tensions prevalent today. Through this story of an Arab American girl, readers may be able to look beyond prejudices and learn to accept differences in others.

REVIEW EXCERPTS
School Library Journal writes, “Nye introduces readers to unforgettable characters. The setting is both sensory and tangible: from the grandmother's village to a Bedouin camp. Above all, there is Jerusalem itself, where ancient tensions seep out of cracks and Liyana explores the streets practicing her Arabic vocabulary. 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. Habibi succeeds in making the hope for peace compellingly personal and concrete...as long as individual citizens like Liyana's grandmother Sitti can say, "I never lost my peace inside."

Kirkus Reviews comments, “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. In the process, some of the passages become quite ponderous while the human story- -Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overall--fall away from the plot. However, Liyana's romance with an Israeli boy develops warmly, and readers are left with hope for change and peace as Liyana makes the city her very own.”

Reviews accessed at:
http://www.amazon.com/Habibi-Naomi-Shihab-Nye/dp/0689825234

CONNECTIONS
Other books about the Middle East written by Naomi Shihab Nye:
19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0060504048
SITTI’S SECRETS. Illustrated by Nancy Carpenter. ISBN 0689817061
THE FLAG OF CHILDHOOD: POEMS FROM THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0689851723
THE SPACE BETWEEN OUR FOOTSTEPS. ISBN 0689812337
THE WORDS UNDER THE WORDS: SELECTED POEMS. ISBN 0933377290

Submitted by Kim