HABIBI
by Naomi Shihab Nye
Image credit: www.simonandschuster.com
1. Bibliography
Nye, Naomi Shihab. 2007. Habibi. New York: Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers. ISBN 978-0-689-80149-5
2. Plot Summary
This story begins with 14-year-old Liyana as a teenager in St. Louis, Missouri. After Liyana has just had her first kiss, her father announces that he is uprooting the family and returning to his homeland of Jerusalem. Liyana, her brother, and her American mother are apprehensive about the move to a new country. The family packs their things and nervously flies across the world to become immersed in Poppy's culture and meet the relatives they have never known. Shortly after their arrival, they meet a throng of relatives including Poppy's mother, Sitti. The Abbouds slowly settle in to a new home and the pace of life in Jerusalem. During the week, Liyana and Rafik attend school and visit Sitti's village on the weekends. Liyana often explores on her own visiting the shops and she meets Omer, a Jewish boy in a ceramics shop. They begin a flirtatious relationship. Liyana learns more about the conflicts that often arise between the Palestinians and the Jews, although she does not fully understand their differences. Finally, Liyana begins to feel more at home in Jerusalem and does not long to return to America anymore.
3. Critical Analysis
This fascinating novel follows the Abboud family's transition from living in St. Louis to their new home in Jerusalem. The plot is unique as there are many immigrant stories of families moving to the United States, but this one features an Arab-American family as newcomers in a Middle Eastern country. Written from the insider viewpoint of Naomi Shihab Nye, herself a Palestinian-American, this story will resonate with readers looking to delve into the intricacies of the Palestinian culture. The country of Israel seen through the eyes of Liyana is interesting and vibrant as she is immersed in a culture she has never known before. There are numerous colorful characters including Liyana's fun-loving younger brother, Rafik, her physician father, Poppy, her industrious, old-world grandmother, Sitti and Omer, her Jewish crush.
This story is a celebration of cultural differences between the rich culture of Jerusalem and Liyana's American sensibilities. The first cultural difference Liyana notices is the mannerisms of her Palestinian family members. They greet her with kisses, tightly-squeezed hugs, and cheek-pinching, and an overwhelming amount of affection she and her brother are not used to. Liyana and Rafik were not prepared to hear high-pitched trilling from Sitti with their aunts clapping along. Next, Liyana describes the clothing that the village women wear such as "long dresses with thick fabrics" stitched brightly with embroidery, gold bangles, and long scarves over their hair. The older men wear a checkered keffiyeh draped over their head.
Liyana also describes many of the foods that are enjoyed in Israel such as yogurt, hummus, baba ganoush with pita bread, dates, and mint tea. She notes the American foods that are difficult to find such as mayonnaise, lima beans, and lemon meringue pie. Liyana could hardly bear the butcher shop where patrons can choose a live chicken to be slaughtered on the spot. At school, Liyana attends the kindergarten class to work on her Arabic language skills. She tries to use the few phrases she knows, but still must have her father translate when listening to Sitti's stories. Arabic phrases are intertwined throughout the text such as "shukraan", the word for "thank you". The names throughout the story are distinctly Arab or Jewish, such as Rafik, Khaled, and Omer.
Liyana disagrees with some of the cultural differences, such as the fact that public displays of affection are strictly forbidden in Arab culture. In many ways, Liyana is a contemporary American teenager, but as she is placed in a highly conflicted area of the world, the long history of the Palestinians and the Jews is slowly revealed to her through events that happen to her family. This is apparent when Sitti's home is attacked by Israeli soldiers and they damage her bathroom while searching for one of her sons. Then, Liyana is outraged when Poppy is jailed for a night for trying to render aid to a refugee that lives in the nearby camp. This story is an excellent example of Arab-American young adult literature and reveals much about the culture of Israel through the trials of a strong female protagonist.
This story is a celebration of cultural differences between the rich culture of Jerusalem and Liyana's American sensibilities. The first cultural difference Liyana notices is the mannerisms of her Palestinian family members. They greet her with kisses, tightly-squeezed hugs, and cheek-pinching, and an overwhelming amount of affection she and her brother are not used to. Liyana and Rafik were not prepared to hear high-pitched trilling from Sitti with their aunts clapping along. Next, Liyana describes the clothing that the village women wear such as "long dresses with thick fabrics" stitched brightly with embroidery, gold bangles, and long scarves over their hair. The older men wear a checkered keffiyeh draped over their head.
Liyana also describes many of the foods that are enjoyed in Israel such as yogurt, hummus, baba ganoush with pita bread, dates, and mint tea. She notes the American foods that are difficult to find such as mayonnaise, lima beans, and lemon meringue pie. Liyana could hardly bear the butcher shop where patrons can choose a live chicken to be slaughtered on the spot. At school, Liyana attends the kindergarten class to work on her Arabic language skills. She tries to use the few phrases she knows, but still must have her father translate when listening to Sitti's stories. Arabic phrases are intertwined throughout the text such as "shukraan", the word for "thank you". The names throughout the story are distinctly Arab or Jewish, such as Rafik, Khaled, and Omer.
Liyana disagrees with some of the cultural differences, such as the fact that public displays of affection are strictly forbidden in Arab culture. In many ways, Liyana is a contemporary American teenager, but as she is placed in a highly conflicted area of the world, the long history of the Palestinians and the Jews is slowly revealed to her through events that happen to her family. This is apparent when Sitti's home is attacked by Israeli soldiers and they damage her bathroom while searching for one of her sons. Then, Liyana is outraged when Poppy is jailed for a night for trying to render aid to a refugee that lives in the nearby camp. This story is an excellent example of Arab-American young adult literature and reveals much about the culture of Israel through the trials of a strong female protagonist.
4. Review Excerpts and Awards
BOOKLIST (September 1997) "[Nye] writes from a unique perspective, as the American newcomer/observer and as the displaced Palestinian in occupied territory. The story is steeped in detail about the place and cultures: food, geography, history, shopping, school, 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 (September 1997) "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.'"
- ALA Notable Books for Children, 1998
- Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award Nominee, 1999
- Georgia Children's Book Award Nominee, 2000
- Jane Addams Children's Book Award, 1998
- Judy Lopez Memorial Award, 1998
5. Connections
- Habibi is the perfect companion story for a social studies lesson on the conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews in Israel. Students could locate both St. Louis and Jerusalem on a map.
- Readers that enjoy Habibi might also want to read Sitti's Secrets, a picture book by Naomi Shihab Nye or another one of her immigrant stories, The Turtle of Oman.
