Habibi

Bibliography
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1999. Habibi. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. ISBN 9780689825231

Plot Summary

Liyana’s Palestinian father has always believed that he would someday return home. He has always wanted his children to understand both sides of their heritage. Liyana, her brother Rafik, and their parents, move from St. Louis, Missouri to Jerusalem just before she starts high school. They meet a large collection of family who are anxious to teach them about life in this area. She must learn to adapt to her new home, new languages, and life in another country. In addition, Liyana and her family must deal with dangerous situations caused by the strain between Jews and Palestinians. Liyana feels lost-like she is nothing for a long time. She is not quite American and not quite Arab. Her homesickness fades once she meets Omer, a Jewish boy who she quickly falls in love with. She then must face her family and hope they are accepting of this new friendship that is cultural taboo. Surprisingly, even her Sitti (grandmother) receives him with kindness and peace.

Critical Analysis

HABIBI, written by Naomi Shihab Nye, has won the Jane Addams Children’s Book award and the American Library Association Notable Books for Children. Nye brings authenticity to this story because she has lived both in America and the Middle East giving her first hand knowledge of the cultures within. Liyana’s story is one of growth, acceptance, and hope. Through Liyana’s gradual acceptance of her father’s homeland and culture, her strength, intelligence, and determination become apparent. Liyana and her brother are Arab-American. Poppy, her father was born in Palestine. He moved to the United States to escape the tensions between the Jews and Palestinians after the British were not in charge. Liyana tells of her father’s move through an essay written for her history teacher before her and her family moves. She tells of Poppy’s memories: “Everybody was mixed together. My father says nobody talked or thought much about being Arabs or Jews or anything, they just ate, slept, studied, got in trouble at school, wore shoes with holes in the bottoms, hiked to Bethlehem on the weekends and heard the donkeys’ feet grow fewer in the stone streets as the world filled up with cars.” (pg. 26). This may surprise readers-even I did not realize that Arabs and Jews lived next to each other and that the cultures were once mixed until I read this book. In the early chapters, Liyana says goodbye to America and the culture she will miss, the style of homes, foods like pretzels on the street, her shorts, and many of her childhood treasures, her friends and kissing. There are many cultural markers in this book. Language, character names, foods, celebrations, religious practices, and clothing are all used to show life in Jerusalem and in the village. Liyana is learning Arabic, but that is not the only language she is exposed to on a daily basis. She hears Hebrew, Arabic, Armenian and English. When Liyana meets Sitti, her grandmother, Sitti trills. Poppy explains it is her traditional cry. The women wear long dresses in bold colors and stitched with fancy embroidery and some of the village the men wear kaffiyehs. The older women cover their heads with a long white scarf and they wear plastic shoes. Food is a big part of family gatherings in the book. There are olives, grape leaves, rice, grilled onions, hummus, flat breads, lebne, and baba ghanouj, yogurts, and traditional treats that Liyana finds on her walks through the old city. In addition to cultural markers such as languages, food, and clothing, there are different religions represented in the book. However, it is not a focus of the book. The Abboud family is an Arab-American family. Many may assume that they would be Muslim but they are not. The family describes themselves as a “spiritual family”. They do not attend church regularly, but they seem to have Christian beliefs. When they first move to Jerusalem, they tour all of the major Christian sites in the area. Liyana’s mother becomes very emotional as she visits these places. The Abbouds do not think that any one religion is the only correct one. Liyana describes herself as belonging to God. Throughout the novel, Liyana speaks of the dangers and injustices dealt out to the Arabs by Jewish soldiers. The family is confronted with these injustices when soldiers destroy Sitti’s house. The soldiers came looking for a cousin and when they did not find him, they destroyed her bathroom. Another example of the tensions is when soldiers blame their friend Khaled for a bomb. They shoot Khaled, and jailed Poppy for trying to intervene. However, these injustices are quickly rectified and are not avenged. The Abbouds are not vengeful, which shows that not all Middle Easterners revengeful. Poppy is sad because he thought that things were better than when he left. Nye helps readers to understand that Jerusalem is full of regular people, not just the mourners, soldiers, and bombers seen on television. Most of them just want “the peace.” In fact, when Liyana’s father finally decides that she can bring her Jewish friend, Omer, to meet the extended family readers will be surprised how the family reacts. No one is suspicious of Omer as Poppy had feared. When Omer speaks to Sitti, expressing his desire for peace between the Arabs and Jews, she welcomes him and says, “We have been waiting for you a very long time.” She tells the story of a forbidden friendship between herself and a Jewish man-who she believes Omer is the angel of. Nye ends the story shortly after Sitti’s last story. Readers are left with an idea of hope. Hope that young people like Omer, Rafik, Khaled, and Liyana will all influence the future in a positive way-ending the violence and hatred in this region.

Review Excerpts

Booklist: “The story is steeped in detail about the place and cultures: food, geography, history, shopping, schools, languages, religions, etc. Just when you think it is obtrusive to have essays and journal entries thrust into the story, you get caught up in the ideas and the direct simplicity with which Nye speaks.”
School Library Journal “An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. 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."

Connections

Other books written by Naomi Shihab Nye include:

Nye, Naomi Shihab. SITTI’S SECRET. ISBN 0689817061

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 19 VARIETIES OF GAZELLE: POEMS OF THE MIDDLE EAST. ISBN 0060097655

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/poetryeverywhere/nye.html

Lesson Plan for Grade 9-12 about how poetry can dispel stereotypes using poetry by Naomi Shihab Nye:

http://www.pbs.org/now/classroom/poet.html