HABIBI- NYE

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. HABIBI. New York: Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers. ISBN: 0-689- 80149-1
Summary:
HABIBI is a story of fourteen year old Liyana and her family as they move to their father’s home Jerusalem. Liyana has lived her whole life in America. She is an Arab- American and her father feels it is time for the family to experience his side of the family. “He wanted them to know both sides of their history and become the fully rounded human beings they were destined to be.” Liyana remembers hearing the stories of her father when he came to this country as an immigrant and “now she would be the immigrant.” As Liyana and her family settle into their new life in Jerusalem, she looks for ways to make a difference. The difference may come through her friendship with Omer who is Jewish and gave her family concern. Liyana and Omer may just be the beginning of a new story between the Arabs and Jew people.
Analysis:
Habibi is Arabic for darling a term of endearment. Poppy said it all the time. Nye included many Arabic words that identified food and phrases that the family needed in their new home. Liyana, Rafik and her mother had spent their whole life in America and throughout the story the words are in italic and followed by a translation for the reader. The family and friends shared meals and stories and the names of foods such as hareesa, falafel, katayef, baba ghanoij, and hummus are just a few of the foods that were named. The family needed to learn some phrases in order to communicate with others quicker. Father taught the word “ana” to say I am when meeting others, “ yumken”- maybe, Liyana’s favorite was “Nos- nos” meaning half- half when explaining she is Arab- American and “souk” meaning market place. Learning the language of others is important and is one part of finding your place. “Language is one shiny key.”
Liyana had to adjust what was “appropriate” while living in Jerusalem. Women were not to wear shorts, no displays of affection such as kissing, and no coming wet hair in public were a few of the adjustments Liyana had to make. Father reminds her “It’s inappropriate for a girl to invite a boy anywhere in this part of the world.” Then there was the reminder of the Jewish and Arabs not to socialize. The license plates are color coded to identify whether you are from Arab or Jewish side, with blue for Arabs and yellow license for Jews.
Living conditions are differen,t not only are there sides to the city but some people live in refugee camps or on the land as the Bodouins that wander year to year. Liyana and Rafik meet Khaled and Nadine while walking past the refugee camp. After exchanging hellos in Arabic and English the four become good friends. Although Liyana and Rafik have friends at school but the only friends that visit their home are Nadine and Khaled.
Liyana meets a young boy in a favorite shop and when he introduces himself as “Omar”, Liyana thinks that it is an Arabic name. As she soon discovers it is “Omer with an “e”, not an “a”- which is a Jewish name. Liyana gets nervous and begins speaking fast, “I mean, this fighting is senseless, don’t you think? I have hope for peace, do you?” Omer answers, “Of course I do!” The friendship begins to grow.
The tension between the Jews and Arabs is escalated when there is a bombing in a Jewish marketplace. This is the first experience since arriving in Jerusalem that has touched the Abboud family and their friends. When their friend Khaled is shot because soldiers believe he may have been involved in the bombing and their father is taken to jail for helping it becomes real to the family.
Liyana finds strength in her family and her father’s family especially “Sitti” his mother. Sitti wants a peaceful future for all families. She welcomes Omer and calls him an “angel.” It is Omer, Sitti, insists that father bring with them on their trip to the Sea of Galilee. He speaks Hebrew and we may need it. Sitti like Liyana wants change and she sees in the tea leaves Omer needing to be “brave” because there are “hard days coming”, there are walls you can’t break, just find the doors in them.” The leaves promised Liyana a beautiful future. As Sitti touches Liyana”s forehead as dad translates, “She says you have a powerful world in there. Be strong. Keep letting it out.”
Reviews/Awards:
Book Links (A.L.A.) 01/01/09 Notable/Best Books (A.L.A.) 01/19/98
Booklist 09/15/97 Publishers Weekly starred 09/08/97
Books for the Teen Age (NYPL) 04/01/98 School Library Journal 09/01/97
New York Times 11/16/97 Wilson's Junior High School 07/01/98
From School Library Journal
Grade 5-9. An important first novel from a distinguished anthologist and poet. When Liyana's doctor father, a native Palestinian, decides to move his contemporary Arab-American family back to Jerusalem from St. Louis, 14-year-old Liyana is unenthusiastic. Arriving in Jerusalem, the girl and her family are gathered in by their colorful, warmhearted Palestinian relatives and immersed in a culture where only tourists wear shorts and there is a prohibition against boy/girl relationships. When Liyana falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, she challenges family, culture, and tradition, but her homesickness fades. Constantly lurking in the background of the novel is violence between Palestinian and Jew. It builds from minor bureaucratic annoyances and humiliations, to the surprisingly shocking destruction of grandmother's bathroom by Israeli soldiers, to a bomb set off in a Jewish marketplace by Palestinians. It exacts a reprisal in which Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed. 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."?Kate McClelland, Perrot Memorial Library, Greenwich, CT
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Kirkus Reviews
Liyana Abboud, 14, and her family make a tremendous adjustment when they move to Jerusalem from St. Louis. All she and her younger brother, Rafik, know of their Palestinian father's culture come from his reminiscences of growing up and the fighting they see on television. In Jerusalem, she is the only ``outsider'' at an Armenian school; her easygoing father, Poppy, finds himself having to remind her--often against his own common sense--of rules for ``appropriate'' behavior; and snug shops replace supermarket shopping--the malls of her upbringing are unheard of. Worst of all, Poppy is jailed for getting in the middle of a dispute between Israeli soldiers and a teenage refugee. 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. (Fiction. 12+) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title
Connections:
This is a book I would recommend for a read aloud to third or fourth grade students. As the teacher is reading the book- stop and go to the maps and follow their trip from St. Louis to Jerusalem. There are many opportunities to research the people, conflict, food, housing and family traditions.
Compare what is “appropriate” in America but not in other countries. What other customs are there? Are there certain phrases that would not be appropriate or appreciated in other countries? Make a list of important phrases or words to know when going to another country.
This is a good website for upper grade children to use a resource to learn more about Jerusalem.
http://kids.britannica.com/comptons/article-9276254/Palestine