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Naomi Shihab Nye

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Habibi Kindle Edition

by Naomi Shihab Nye (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.4 217 ratings

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Fourteen-year-old Liyana Abboud would rather not have to change her life...especially now that she has been kissed, for the very first time and quite by surprise, by a boy named Jackson.

But when her parents announce that Liyana's family is moving from St. Louis, Missouri, to Jerusalem -- to the land where her father was born -- Liyana's whole world shifts.

What does Jerusalem hold for Liyana? A grandmother, a Sitti, she has never met, for one. A history much bigger than she is. Visits to the West Bank village where her aunts and uncles live. Mischief. Old stone streets that wind through time and trouble. Opening doors, dark jail cells, a new feeling for peace, and Omer...the intriguing stranger whose kisses replace the one she lost when she moved across the ocean.

Editorial Reviews

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.

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.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0030H7U8K
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint edition (June 30, 2008)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ June 30, 2008
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1086 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 292 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #301,126 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)

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4.4 217 ratings

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Naomi Shihab Nye

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Naomi Shihab Nye, poet, essayist, anthologist, has been a recipient of writing fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation and the Witter Bynner Foundation/Library of Congress. Author of more than twenty volumes, her recent books inc

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A. King

Beautiful Story of Adolesence

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2010

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Just when Liyana Abboud gets her first kiss, her father, Poppy, decides to uproot the whole family and move halfway across the globe. Liyana is less than enthusiastic about moving from St. Louis to Jerusalem, where she can't wear shorts, hold hands with boys--and don't even think about kissing. However, her Palestinian relatives welcome her and her little brother, Rafik, warmly. Between the stories of Sitti, her grandmother, and the wonders, sights, smells, and food of Jerusalem, Liyana finds pleasure in this new place. Always in the background, the tension of the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict builds from harassment in the streets, to the destruction of Sitti's bathroom, to the bombing of an Israeli market. Though Liyana's family preaches peace and understanding, when she falls in love with Omer, a Jewish boy, her family's views are put to the test. Their convictions--and Liyana's budding romance--face further strain when Liyana's friend is shot and her father jailed by the Israeli army.
In Naomi Shahib Nye's first novel, Habibi, published in 1997 by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, she captures all the sights, sounds, smells, and intricacies of the ancient city of Jerusalem. Nye's writing is thoughtful, poetic, but not overly intricate. Her mastery of language, story, and the short chapters, almost story-like, propel the reader ever forward. While this would be enough for most authors, Nye also presents a very complex situation in the Middle East between the Palestinians and Israelis, and does so in an unbiased fashion that leaves reader as hopeful for peace as Liyana and her family

9 people found this helpful

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LeniW

Moving Portrayal of Adolescence

Reviewed in the United States on October 20, 2010

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Moving just before starting high school can be difficult on any teen, but for Liyana, it's even harder. Her father has decided to move their family from St. Louis back to his native Jerusalem: a land torn by the constant barrage of violence--from city shootings to the defacement of Liyana's grandmother's bathroom. Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye (Simon Pulse, 1997) renders the tale of Liyana's adjustment to her new life and country with a delicate tenderness. Liyana struggles to find her bearings at a new school, in her new family, all while mastering a new language. Often, she is struck by her "outsider"-ness, and wonders where a "half-half" such as her can fit in. As she attempts to forge her identity, she is met with external oppositions spanning from the inability to wear clothes she desires to the religious battles between Israeli defenders and Palestinian supporters waging around her. Liyana is further tested in her beliefs when she befriends Omer, who is Jewish. Liyana is a believable, intelligent, and complex narrator whose journey is intriguing and fresh. Habibi hums along in a poetic trance, wrapping the reader in a quilt of ideas that will leave them buzzing about the notions of peace, war, love, friendship, identity, and family for days to come.

3 people found this helpful

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James Fairbairn

A shining gem.

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2020

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Beautifully written. Sparkling and surprising.
Shared with me by someone I love.

More kid-friendly than Guests of the Sheik, and as richly imaginative as Alif the Unseen without the cyberpunk and PG-13.

It’s a book I expect will stick in someone’s perspective for the rest of their life.

One person found this helpful

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pl75

As described

Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2023

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Book arrived on time and as described.

Reviewed in the United States on September 1, 2020

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This is my 12 year old daughter's favorite book! She said it was hard to not turn the next page! This book should have won the Newberry Award!!!

2 people found this helpful

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Jezaarah

Came in new condition.

Reviewed in the United States on November 13, 2018

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Great story about friendship. Age appropriate for middle school aged students.

2 people found this helpful

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Nasir Chohan

Interesting

Reviewed in the United States on October 28, 2020

Like it

Reviewed in the United States on September 15, 2014

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Very engaging novel, and it definitely had it's moments. I began this novel very excited as I have Arab Israeli relatives and really wanted a novel for my kids that would help them understand their Taita (grandma's) background better.

But, a few notes for parents of elementary children: The novel begins with a 14 year old girl coveting a second kiss with a boy, and several times throughout the novel the theme of kissing boys comes up again. The romantic part doesn't go beyond kissing, but even there, there's no discussion whatsoever about whether it's wise for 14 year old girls to be kissing their boyfriends, secretly meeting without parents, etc. This is all presented very positively in the book. Physically romantic intimacy outside the care of parental supervision at the age of 14 by the age of 16 will normally lead to more than kissing. Of course, Habibi is not at all unique in this respect, a lot of youth fiction and television are pushing our children to become physically intimate at younger and younger ages, and the sad statistical results in US and other Western societies are unavoidable. I want my daughters and sons to admire characters who encourage them to have higher goals than kissing and boyfriends/girlfriends.

Second, a chapter in the middle subjects the reader to a thick dose of religious relativism, really out of place in the novel--the author abandons the voice of her narrator (a fourteen year old girl interested in kissing) and preaches to her young audience about how all ways to God are equally good, except, of course, formal Christianity of a type that teaches that some people are chosen by God and that some paths do not lead to God. Of course, Nye is entitled to promote her own worldview in her novel, but parents should be aware that this is exactly what she is doing, albeit buried in the middle.

Thirdly, the depiction of the causes of the conflict in Israel/Palestine would definitely be seen as fairly one-sided by many Jewish Israelis as well. I personally am very sympathetic to the suffering and frustrations of Arab Israelis and Palestinians, but those assigning this to younger students should be aware that little enlightenment of the actual issues will come from the book. Though there is one positive Jewish character in the book, the IDF is presented wholly negatively so there will not be much understanding for why the current situation is what it is. The book does not enlighten children about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict but merely biases them before they even have any understanding of the history or issues. (There is virtually no discussion in the book of how the state of Israel came to be and the various wars since then, in other words, how the West Bank and Jerusalem ended up as they are at the time of the story.) I am neither Jewish nor a Zionist, and appreciate the attempt to help students see the people caught up in this tragedy as people rather than news reports. Maybe Nye can write a companion volume from the perspective of the Jewish family of the boy in the novel, not to say that both sides are strictly moral equivalents, but at least to help students come to understand why the situation defies simplistic solutions.

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