By Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona
Baddawi by Leila Abdelrazaq follows Ahmad, a struggling young boy raised in a refugee camp called “Baddawi” in North Lebanon. He tries to find himself and his identity while growing up in a place he cannot call home. His story represents one of the many thousands of refugee children born in Palestine who fled or were forced to leave their homeland after the war in 1948 and the establishment of the state of Israel.
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By Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona
Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan is a poignant story about the journey of a magical mouth harp (harmonica) through time and space. The masterful enmeshing of timeless fairytale and historical reality binds this powerful text into a strong narrative that highlights world events, prejudice, and social class distinctions. It all begins with Otto, who gets lost in a jungle where three sisters, bound by a witch’s curse, find him. Otto promises to break the curse by taking the harmonica out to the world. The harmonica, through its magical music, tangibly joins three children separated by place, which lifts the curse, freeing the three sisters. Continue reading
By Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona
The well-executed plot of No Safe Place by Deborah Ellis follows the journey to freedom of three undocumented immigrant children. While the children struggle to reach the shores of England, a British orphan, released from the bonds of an oppressive uncle, joins them. These children, Abdul from Baghdad, Cheslav from Russia, Jonah from England, and the only female, Rosalia, a Romani, develop throughout the story. Ellis depicts a rich cultural background of the countries with distinct circumstances for each character. This story begins in France and culminates in England, providing a fine description of the traumatic lives many immigrants lead in France.
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By Seemi Aziz, University of Arizona
World populations relocated to varied geographical areas throughout history and time. Such movement contributed to the United States of America and its place of power in the world. The recent significant global impact of large bodies of refugee populations relocating and of forced movements of Mexicans and Muslims to the U.S., Europe and other Western nations present themselves at the forefront of national and international news and politics. One cannot turn on the TV or visit an internet or social media site and not find a reference to these emigrating populations.
by Seemi Aziz
The books to the left portray the identity formation of individual characters as they adjust to new and challenging environments.
Going Over by Kephart is a heartfelt novel about a girl and a boy living in the divided Berlin in February 1983. There are barricades and a wall separating east from west. Ada lives among the protesters, and immigrants of Kreuzberg in West Berlin. Stefan lives in East Berlin, in a nondescript apartment bunker of Friedrichshain. The separation between the two sides is merely 165 feet. The characters are bound by love and strong family ties but are separated by their circumstance. The only way out is Continue reading
by Seemi Aziz
The first book that had an impact on the discussion of diaspora was Diamond Boy by Michael Williams. This story is about Patson Moyo a 15-year-old living with his father, stepmother and sister in Zimbabwe. His father is a schoolteacher who believes in his profession with all his heart but the stepmother wants more financially. The search for ‘more’ takes them to the Marange diamond fields; a portion of which belongs to the stepmother’s brother.Here the family divides as the stepmother opts to stay with her brother’s large family of two wives and children while Patson and his father and sister are driven to live in tobacco sheds while they search for their fortune in a ‘girazi’ (a priceless stone) that would change their lives forever. Continue reading
by Seemi Aziz
The month of July continues the issues, topics, and concerns that deal with diaspora and its impact in today’s global society. As the discussion about diaspora continues in this forum I needed to add a few thoughts and books that deal with the topic that I have recently come across. Continue reading
by Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona
Looking at the picturebooks left in this text set I came to realize that they have some strong stereotypes about Muslims that add as well as take away from the stories as representatives of the myriad of Muslim cultures.
In Jeanette Winter’s Nasreen’s Secret School & The Librarian of Basra: A True Story from Iraq the main premise is of representing strong female Muslim characters. To this end the stories are appropriate and successful. While they shows the protagonist as strong, the peripheral characters are shown as oppressed or oppressive. Further the enemy or the occupiers are not named or differentiated. Continue reading
by Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona
After looking at the 11 picturebooks in this collection I came away with the realization that these books merely covered a few regions that Muslims occupy as well as a handful of situations. These limited portrayals provide only a window of restricted representations. For instance, the necessary voices of children living in the Western countries are represented in books that come across as didactic and may turn off the audience in western countries even if the content is culturally relevant. Amira’s Totally Chocolate World and Mobin-Uddin’s My Name is Bilal are two such examples. Continue reading
By Seemi Aziz, Tucson, Arizona
As I work on a project evaluating the authenticity of Muslim Voices in text I have been surprised by the number of books out there that are both of quality and taste. As an educator scholar of the Muslim Voices Project, being conducted under the auspices of the Humanities Council New York, I helped suggest and select the following list – still in need of some abridgement. As I read and evaluate the list I will share my thoughts about some of them in this forum. The list along with a short descriptor is as follows: Continue reading
