From: Carrie Schadle <bz227>
Date: Tue, 6 Jan 1998 09:53:03 -0500 (EST)

This will probably be unpopular, but...

I really didn't like _Habibi_ at all. I thought the whole premise of the book was false--that a father would be so naive about the dangers of moving a family to Jerusalem at this point in history did not ring true to me. I also think her meeting the Jewish boy was too obviously a plot device. Someone suggested to me that perhaps the book is getting so favorably reviewed because there has been nothing like it before, and because it is filling a hole people are reacting positively to it. On the other hand, maybe I didn't spend enough time with the book--I read it quickly. But I just didn't find it distinguished. On a (semi-)related note, anyone else tired of all the covers by Raul Colon? (That will probably be an unpopular comment, too, but I do feel that sometimes one illustrator gets overexposed...)

******************************** Carrie Schadle Aguilar Branch, New York Public Library bz227 at freenet.buffalo.edu 212/534)30
Received on Tue 06 Jan 1998 08:53:03 AM CST