by Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
As I looked into Palestinian experiences in children’s literature, I discovered many significant examples. These examples speak to broader issues of displacement, refugees and oppression. These topics/issues are prevalent in the global sociopolitical atmosphere presently, more so now with the two ongoing wars: Ukraine/Russia and Palestine/Israel. If we research and go into depth on both these conflicts and wars, we come away with multiple ways of understanding the conflicts and realize that there is no one easy explanation that pigeonholes the conflicts.
The examples of children’s literature that I explore in this post shed light on Palestinian perspectives on the current conflict through a recent memoir and several nonfiction books. By combining these powerful examples of fiction and nonfiction, readers come away with new understandings. Continue reading