One way to move beyond the dehumanizing narratives about Palestinians is to read together and discuss. Here are three picture books and one short novel (late middle grade or young YA) by Palestinians, about contemporary Gaza and the West Bank, and about historic Palestine and its rich cultural heritage. Three in English – either as translations from Arabic or written in English – and one only in Arabic, though hopefully that too will be published in English soon.
Sitti’s Bird: Gaza Story
Author and illustrator: Palestinian artist Malak Mattar
Published by Crocodile Books, an Imprint of Interlink Publishing Group
Translated from Arabic by Interlink staff
Picture book for all ages
Reviewed by Ekram Abdelgawad
“Sitti, are we in a cage too?’ Malak asks her grandmother, reflecting on how their life in Gaza is like the life of her grandmother’s caged bird. Gaza is certainly much bigger than the birdcage, and it includes more than two million humans, but with the family under bombardment, Malak feels trapped. However, as Sitti is a wise grandmother, she tells little Malak that she can feel free in her dreams.
Sitti’s Bird begins with a happy Palestinian family dressed in cheerful colors, living an ordinary life in Gaza, despite a siege of more than sixteen years. Malak loves her life in Gaza, especially traveling to Gaza’s sea to go fishing, for family gatherings, to eat traditional Palestinian food, and to play with her school friends. Yet all that suddenly stops when airstrikes begin. Malak begins to feel caged when she and her family are confined to their home for 50 days because of the bombardment. The only outlet for her roiling emotions is paint and a brush. With them, she draws a whole new world free of fear, bombings, and cages.
This story draws on the reality of Gaza under siege, with symbols of hope woven in: Sitti as a symbol of ancestors, land, and history, and Sitti’s white bird is a symbol of freedom.
I recommend the book to Gaza’s children who are still alive to read it under siege and bombardment. Moreover, I recommend this book to world’s children who are free and safe.
By Reem Kassis, illustrated by Noha Eilouti
Published in the UK by Studio Press, an imprint of Bonnier Books UK, and in the USA by Crocodile Books, an imprint of Interlink Publishing, 2023
Picture book for all ages
Reviewed by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
A colorful and joyful celebration of Palestinian people, places, food and culture, this is a must-have for any Palestinian family in the diaspora. For families in the rest of the world who are realizing now how little they know about Palestinians and their struggle, or know very little about Palestine beyond the news, this is an essential, illustrated encyclopedia shining a spotlight on Palestinians’ cultural heritage, culinary pride, and stories of the cities and landscape to which Palestinians have a connection.
At over a 100 pages of full-color double spreads, it explores historic and contemporary Palestinian themes in six chapters: Geography, Cultural Symbols, Creative Minds, Agriculture, Cuisine, Performing Arts, History and Religion. We’re taken on a tour of the fascinating nooks and crannies (and churches and caves, bakeries and local crafts) of places within Israel now, as well as Gaza and West Bank cities such as Bethlehem and Ramallah, giving just enough history for context and interest, and interspersed with fun facts and cultural detail. We find out more about Palestinian embroidery, traditional dress, the famous keffiya scarf, and the Handala cartoon meme. We’re treated to delicious nuggets of food from knafeh, to maqlubeh to za’atar, we hear of the many uses of olives, and meet iconic writers, artists and cultural figures from poet Mahmud Darwish, to feminist author Sahar Khalifeh, 23-year-old Gazan artist Malak Mattar, and journalist Shireen Abu Akleh who was shot last year by the Israeli military.
A beautiful addition to every library and school classroom, this is 100 pages of pride in a cultural heritage under threat, and a rich tour of a landscape that means so much to so many.
A Strange Adventure
Written by Palestinian-Jordanian author Taghreed Najjar
Illustrated by artist Charlotte Shama
Published by Al Salwa Publishing House, Jordan
Picture book for all ages
Reviewed by Ekram Abdelgawad
“Embroidery is not just colourful threads and beautiful shapes, my love, it tells stories, too,”—so Auntie Suhaylah tells young Hind.
Hind has entered a fantasy world of “tatreez,” or traditional Palestinian embroidery, with a magical needle and a spool of red thread. In this amazing world, Hind has fun with colorful and cheerful creatures.
However, suddenly, a dark monster appears, and the struggle begins: between those who support colors and those who advocate a colorless life. Who will win at the end? The incidents unfold in an interesting way with graceful rhythm accompanied by exquisite illustrations by Charlotte Shama. From the beginning of the book, one can recognize the motifs of Palestinian embroidery. Each motif has a story to tell, another layer to unfold.
I would recommend the book to any child fond of art, colors, and embroidery, and especially to who cherish their traditional clothing.
By Ahlam Bsharat
Translated from Arabic by Nancy Roberts
Published by Neem Tree Press, UK, 2016
For readers 11+
Reviewed by Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp
There have been other excellent novels for young people exploring the challenges for teens of life in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, such as the recent Ida in the Middle, but Code Name Butterfly remains, for me, the best contemporary coming-of-age novel by a Palestinian author. This novella spans a tense but hopeful space between an ordinary adolescent’s worries – irritating best friends, family squabbles, the confusions of puberty – and the very specific fears of life under military occupation in the West Bank. Like any young teenage girl, Butterfly has a crush on a boy from the village; how will she cope when she hears that he has been killed? How to say farewell to someone as a martyr you had longed to get to know as a friend, or a boyfriend?
Butterfly is full of questions she dares not ask, instead writing them down and saving them in her treasure chest, her own form of resilience in the face of turmoil and uncertainty in a world that is difficult to make sense of.
Why was it all right for them to pluck their eyebrows but not for Haya and me? Why would her brother want to work for the Israelis? Grandma Amna, will I ever be as resilient as you?
Selected for the prestigious IBBY Honour List, this is a powerful short read that opens a window onto how the inequities of the political context play out in the lives of young people. All profits received by Neem Tree Press from the sales of Code Name Butterfly, Trees for the Absentees, also by Ahlam Bsharat, and four other titles, for the rest of the calendar year will support Médecins sans Frontières, which has provided medical and humanitarian support to Gaza since 1989.
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Ekram Abdelgawad holds a PhD in translation of children’s literature with first honours, English Department, Faculty of Arts, Sohag University, Egypt, 2018. She taught English as a foreign language to children in Egypt for 16 years. She was an English lecturer at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia for five years. She taught translation at Faculty of Languages and Translation, Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt for more than two yeras. She is currently an independent researcher in translation of children’s literature and freelance translator of children’s literature (English/Arabic). Her fields of interest are translation of children’s literature, translation studies, translation theories, and Arabic language.
Ruth Ahmedzai Kemp is a literary translator, who translates fiction and non-fiction from Russian, German and Arabic. She has translated children’s books from Germany, Morocco, Palestine, Russia, Switzerland and Syria. Ruth is co-editor of ArabKidLitNow, and writes about global reading for young people at World Kid Lit, Words Without Borders, and World Literature Today. She also promotes language learning and creative translation for young people through workshops in schools, especially in September which is #WorldKidLitMonth and International Translation Day.
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