A collection of eight stories, most previously published in other anthologies, about what it is like to grow up in the Middle East today.
Santa Claus in Baghdad: Stories about Teens in the Arab World
Intermediate (ages 9-14)
Material appropriate for intermediate age groups
Saving Zasha
In 1945 Russia, those who own German shepherds are considered traitors, but thirteen-year-old Mikhail and his family are determined to keep the dog a dying man brought them, while his classmate Katia strives to learn his secret.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 3
The Night Journey
Thirteen-year-old Rachel ignores her parents’ wishes and persuades her great-grandmother Nana Sashie to relate the story of her escape from czarist Russia. An ALA Notable Book.
Owl Ninja
Sensei Ki-yaga leads Niya and the other students of the Cockroach Ryu on a journey to beg the feudal Emperor to stop war from breaking out between the mountain ryus, putting to the test the firm friendship and unusual skills of these physically-disabled samurai-in-training.
Child Bride
An eleven-year-old girl is sent to her grandmother’s village for an arranged marriage, and tries every method she can think of to escape her fate.
Water Ghost
In China in the 1940s, ten-year-old Ying sells her handmade bamboo chicken fences to make money to attend a school camping trip, but no one understands why she instead uses her earnings to buy a dead hen from the grandmother of a drowned classmate.
Halo
Three angels are sent down to bring good to the world: Gabriel, the warrior; Ivy, the healer; and Bethany, a teenage girl who is the least experienced of the trio. But she is the most human, and when she is romantically drawn to a mortal boy, the angels fear she will not be strong enough to save anyone’ especially herself’from the Dark Forces. Is love a great enough power against evil? Here is the start of a stunning trilogy; the story continues in Hades (Fall 2011) and Heaven (Fall 2012).
I Lost My Mobile at the Mall
Elly Pickering is dreading telling her parents thats she’s lost her mobile phone again, what with the Global Financial crisis and everything. But losing her mobile is just the beginning. A series of technological happenings and manipulations leads Elly to question her priorities, her friendships, and Will, her fabulous boyfriend. Is she facing certain social death? Or can a technological breakdown sometimes be kind of a good thing?
Saraswati’s Way
Leaving his village in rural India to find a better education, mathematically gifted, twelve-year-old Akash ends up at the New Delhi train station, where he relies on Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of knowledge, to guide him as he negotiates life on the street, resists the temptations of easy money, and learns whom he can trust.
See the review at WOW Review, Volume 4, Issue 1
Give Me Shelter
The phrase “asylum seeker” is one heard in the media all the time. It stimulates fierce and controversial debate, in arguments about migration, race, and religion. The movement of people from poor or struggling countries to those where there may be opportunities for a better life is a constant in human history, but it is something with particular relevance in this time of wide-scale political and social upheaval. Featuring stories from youth based in trouble spots around the world — including Kosovo, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Eritrea, Zaire, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, Zimbabwe, and Kurdistan — this collection of stories spotlights people who have been forced to leave their homes or families to seek help and shelter elsewhere. This book has no political axe to grind, simply recording the truth of these children’s stories without assigning blame. Some are about young people traveling to other countries; others are concerned with young ones left behind when parents are forced to flee. These are stories about physical and emotional suffering but also about humanity — of both those who endure unimaginable hardship and those who help them.