Culture 6 - Habibi

A. Bibliography

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 1997. Habibi. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0689825234.

B. Plot Summary
Habibi means darling in Arabic. Liyana Abboud was her father's "Habibi." Liyana and her family lived in St. Louis, Missouri until the day her father announced that it was time for their family to move to Jerusalem, Mr. Abboud's homeland. That same day Liyana got her first kiss. It was a day to remember for many reasons. Liyana was going into high school and her younger brother, Rafik, was going into middle school, and their parents thought that this would be a good time to move. As the family packed what they were taking with them, packed away special items they would not be able to take, and sold the rest in an estate sale, Liyana tried to gather and write down in her many notebooks as many memories as she could so she wouldn't forget the only place she had ever known. "St. Louis smelled of tar and donuts, old boards washed up out of the muddy river, red bricks, and licorice. Leafy greens of bushes and trees ran together outside their car. How could Liyana give all this up?"

When they arrived in Jerusalem and after a complicated wait in customs, they were greeted at their hotel by Mr. Abboud's large family, including Sitti, Liyana's grandmother who is a woman filled with wonderful stories and a strong desire to get to know Liyana. Immediately, Liyana, Rafik, and Mrs. Abboud were swept into another culture they had never experienced with family they had never known. Liyana, all the while recording all the new customs to her but old customs to her father. Liyana goes to an Armenian school, while Rafik attends another school. Mrs. Abboud writes articles regarding peace in the Middle-East and Mr. Abboud is a doctor who treats the elderly.

Liyana meets several friends from a variety of different places. She has her friends at school, the local merhants of spices and cloth she becomes familiar with as she walks the streets of Jerusalem, Khaled and Nadine from the refugee camp down the raod from their house, and Omer, her Jewish friend she meets while at the Sandrouni's family ceramic shop. But her friendship to Omer is one she thinks about the most. As the memory of her first kiss from Jackson in St. Louis fades, her hopes for a new kiss memory from Omer is in the back of her mind. This hope comes to a surprise reality one day while they are studying at the Amrican Library in Jerusalem.

As Liyana is settling into her life in Jerusalem she struggles with the turmoil in the counrty between the Paestinians and the Israelis. This struggle is made all the more personal when Israeli soilders burst into Sitti's house and destroyed her bathroom leaving Sitti hysterical. Liyana's father, who is affectionately called Poppy, is also arrested by Isralei soliders after trying to defend her friend Kahled after a bombing. Poppy is released late the same evening.

This struggle for peace in Jerusalem weighs heavy on Liyana's family, but they are optimist and always strive for change. As Liyana's friendship with Omer grows, she learns more about his background. She also discovers his desire for peace as well, and that he wants to meet and visit Liyana's family one day in the village of Ramallah, where Sitti lives. After much consideration Poppy agrees to take his family along with Omer, Nadine and Kahled to Ramallah to visit Sitti. Omer and Sitti have an immediate bond which pleases and peaks Liyana's curiosity. The book concludes with the Abboud family sitting around a table with Omer in Gailee while Sitti is reading everyone's tea leaves and hopes for the future.

C. Critical Analysis

Habibi covers every cultural marker that represents authentic multicultural literature. It is filled with incredible text that paints vivid picturs in the readers minds. The characters are authentic. The main characters,Liyana, Rafik, Sitti, Poppy, Omer, and Mrs. Abboud, all reflect distinct cultural experiences, realities, physical characteristics, intellectual abilities, and problem-solving capabilities. For example Liyana is constantly refelcting on the American life she had always known and the life in Jerusalem she is quickly discovering and beginning to become acustom to. Throughout the book Liyana recalls memories of her life in the U.S. wondering if she has been forgotten, all the while creating new memories that begin to overshadow those of her past. For example, Liyanna and Poppy are walking to the store one evening and Liyana asks him, "Will we ever go home?" "I would hope," he said, "that you felt comfortable here." "Oh I do," she said. "I feel more comfortable every day. But I was just...wondering. Sometimes I get incredibly homesick for..." Then her mind went balnk. What was she really homesick for?... What was she really missing anymore."

Liyana, Rafik, Poppy, and Mrs. Abboud all show intellectual and problem-solving abilities. School is a high priority in their family and is discussed at length throughout the book. Also the family's strong desire for peace in Jerusalem is expressed throughout the book from Liyana, Poppy, and Mrs. Abboud.

The characters are also well balanced. Liyana, Rafik, Poppy, Mrs. Abboud, Omer, and Sitti are all portrayed with physical, social, and emotional attributes throughout the book. The setting of the story is Jerusalem. The description of current times in Jerusalem and the environment of unrest and decension among the Palestinians and Israelis in this country is felt in the book. Naomi Shihab Nye has given such vivid descriptions regarding Jerusalem and the surroundings towns, I felt that I was along side the characters in the story. For example the text states, "Then the taxi headed to the rural West Bank of orchards and tiny villages, each with its own minaret and perched houses. Liyana said, "It's gorgeous here!" and breathed deeply. She was also thinking, "It's strange," but she was looking for the silver lining. The dusky green olive trees planted in terraced rows up hillsides, walls of carefully stacked stones, old wells with real wooden bukets...Ancient men wearing white headdresses leaned on canes talking n slow time as the train of taxis, driving faster now, flew by into another dimension."

The themes and values in Habbibi are consistent with the cultures mentioned in this book. Although many culutures are discussed in this book, American, Arab, and Jewish, Poppy's Arab culture is described the most. Nye is consistent with the Arab values and themes in the book making it authentic to the Arab customs of today and long ago.

This book is also rich in cultrual details. Not only does the text descibe the physical settings, characters, themes and values, Habibi is also very descriptive in the was customs are described. For example when Liyanna recives an immunization at school for cholera she comes down with a hight fever for several days and Sitti comes over to perform a healing custom from her culture. The text states,"Sitti closed the door of Liyana's rrom and smoothed the white sheets out on the bed, muttering the whole time. Sitti made Liyana lie very still with her arms stretched out alongside. Plucking a handful of silver straight pins from her plump cloth belt, she stuck them one by one, standing up, into the sheets around Liyanna's body...Soon the ins outlined Liyana's body like a metallic running fence. Then Sitti said a series of prayers." The book explains many different customs that adds authenticity to the book.

This selection also honors and celebrates diversity as well as the common bonds of hummanity. As mentioned earlier Liyana is constantly mentioning and comparing her life in America to her life in Jerusalem. She does this is a positive way capitalizing on the benefits of both situations. The diversity between the Palestinian and Israleis is also mentioned quite a bit, although there is negativity between the two groups, Nye presents the struggles of the Palestinians and Israleis with having the Abboud family trying to solve the problems and offer peaceful solutions instead of creating more struggles and tension.

As mentioned earlier there is in-depth treatment of cultural issues. The book also includes characters within a cultural group who interact with other characters from another cultural group. Liyanna, and Arab American, constantly interact with characters from different cultures. For example she interacts with Omer who is of Jewish decent, and Sitti, who is of Arab decent. All of the relationships are relationships of substance and authenticity.

Other cultural markers that are mentioned and authentic in this book are physical descriptions of characters including skin color, identification of a specific culture, language patterns (Arabic), names of characters and forms of address (Sitti - meaning grandmother in Arabic), and foods. A variety of foods are mentioned throughout this book that are customary to the Arab culture. Food such as lentils, falafel, lamb, flat breads, humus, baba ghanouj ,and many more are sprinkeled throughout the book. Religious practices including Muslim and Christian practices are also mentioned in Habibi. Musical preference is also metioned when Omer invites Liyana to listen to some new folk music at "The Fountain."

Finally this book has an appealing format and an enduring quality that envokes reflection, critcal analyisis, and response. Of all the books we have read this semester this is my favorite by far. Habbibi is a wonderful book filled with history of a culture and a place that I was not that familir with, but desire to know more about after reading this book.

D. Review Excerpts

School Library Journal: "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, wher 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."

Kirkus: "In her first novel, Nye ahows all 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 Paelstine-Israeli relations and the region's troubled history. In the process, some of the passages become wuite ponderous while the human story - Liyana's emotional adjustments in the later chapters and her American mother's reactions overal - 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."

E. Connections

Other books to check out by Naomi Shihab Nye:

Nye, Naomi Shihab. Sitti's Secrets. ISBN 0689817069.

Nye, Naomi Shihab. 19 Varieties of gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. ISBN 0060097655.

Nye, Naomi Shihab. The Flag of Childhood: Poems From the Middle East. ISBN 0689857123.