CCBC-Net Archives

[CCBC-Net] Books on the Middle East

From: Nancy Silverrod <nsilverrod>
Date: Thu, 15 May 2008 12:59:39 -0700

I look forward to reading Marc's new book, and thought it would be interesting for everyone to know that the current Israeli Consul in San Francisco is a Bedouin man. He spoke at my synagogue during our celebratory Shabbat for the recognition of the Statehood of Israel. He talked about representing for Israel, as a minority which supposedly has equal rights, yet doesn't; he spoke about the history of the Bedouin recognition of the 1948 statehood, and their role in fighting alongside their new Jewish compatriots and against their Arab co-religionists; and he talked about Israel as the only Democracy in the world that doesn't allow Jews religious freedom (Orthodoxy being the recognized State religion). It was an interesting and moving address.

Nancy Silverrod, Librarian San Francisco Public Library 100 Larkin St. San Francisco, CA 94102-4733 415-557-4417 nsilverrod at sfpl.org
  Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. -James Russell Lowell, poet, editor, and diplomat (1819-1891)

A closed mind is like a closed book: just a block of wood. -Chinese Proverb

-----Original Message----- From: ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu
[mailto:ccbc-net-bounces at ccbc.education.wisc.edu] On Behalf Of Bookmarch Sent: Thursday, May 15, 2008 6:55 AM To: Megan Schliesman; ccbc-net, Subscribers of Subject: Re: [CCBC-Net] Books on the Middle East

I have a book coming out this fall called Unsettled: the Problem of Loving Israel (Ginee Seo Books). Aimed at high school aged readers (and in part based on interviews I conducted with teenagers in Israel) the book is a kind of debate -- with me taking both sides -- on many key questions in Israel's past, present, and future. I hope to enlist American teenagers in helping Israel to face the key issue that is often lost in the shouting: the fact that 20% of Israel's population are Arab citizens of Israel. These are people who live within the 1948 borders, not West Bank Palestinians. They have full legal rights, but are, in many respects in the position of American blacks before the Civil Rights era. I believe that our experience in the 60s when we began to develop a new image of America can be helpful to Israelis, both Jewish and Muslim, who do not yet have an image of a multicultural Israel.

I sent the ms. out to teenagers here, and found them particularly interested in hearing the voices of their peers.

Marc Aronson www.marcaronson.com bookmarch at aol.com 973-763-9343 (phone) 973-763-6601 (fax) 917-257-7072 (cell)


In a message dated 05/15/08 09:41:03 Eastern Daylight Time, schliesman at education.wisc.edu writes: In addition to the fine books in the "Breadwinner" trilogoy by Deborah Ellis, which have already been mentioned, as well as others a few of you

have shared, I can think of a number of other novels and other books for

older children and teens set in the Middle East. Among those we've recommended in various editions of CCBC Choices, our annual best-of-the-year list, are

A Stone in My Hand by Catherine Clinton Samir & Yonatan by Daniella Carmi Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye Light Years by Tammar Stein A Little Piece of Ground by Elizabeth Laird Anahita's Woven Riddle by Megan Nuttall Sayers The Flag of Childhood: Poems from the Middle East compiled by Naomi Shihab Nye Mosque by David Macaulay When I Was a Soldier: A Memoir by Valerie Zenatti Three Wishes: Palestinian and Israeli Children Speak by Deborah Ellis

Those of you who were either able to attend the Arbuthnot Lecture by David Macaulay on April 17 here in Madison, or who watched the video live or after the fact, may have been struck as I was that he decided to

do the book "Mosque" after the attacks of September 11, 2001. He shelved

another project (which turned out to be his new book coming out this year) because he felt the need to do something in the days following September 11 that would help children and teens better understand a religion that was suddenly at the forefront of what they were seeing and

hearing about.

Younger children are most apt to be exposed to books about this part of the world by adults. I'm curious to hear if anyone can speak to seeing older children and teens seeking out books or expressing interest in finding out more on their own. Or, at the least, if you've had opportunities to share and talk with them about these and other books and what you've observed in their responses.

Megan


-- 
Megan Schliesman, Librarian 
Cooperative Children's Book Center 
School of Education, University of Wisconsin-Madison 
608/262-9503 
schliesman at education.wisc.edu 
www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ 
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Received on Thu 15 May 2008 02:59:39 PM CDT