Understandably,
Aref Al-Amri is having a hard time leaving his home in the Middle East – in
Muscat, Oman, a place he loves. His friends are there, his cat, his rock
collection, the desert dunes, and the best fresh apricots in the world… Most of
all, he will miss his grandfather Sidi. But his parents are leaving for
graduate school in Ann Arbor, Michigan; the time has come to pack his suitcase.
When his mother asks Sidi to help reluctant Aref pack, his wise grandfather decides
to take him on some adventures instead – camping beneath the thousand stars of
the desert, sleeping on Sidi’s rooftop, fishing in the Gulf of Oman, visiting the
sea turtles’ nesting ground. The bond between grandfather and grandson is
gentle and palpable. They take time together to celebrate both the profound and
ordinary aspects of what Aref will leave behind, easing his anxiety about
moving from one home, and one culture, to another. Sidi slips a rock from each
destination into Aref’s suitcase, as a quiet well wishing. The Turtle of Oman is an insightful glimpse at anticipating a move
to a new culture under the best of circumstances; readers may also wonder what
it might be like to leave under duress. Ages 8-12.
Born of a Palestinian father and an
American mother, writer Naomi Shihab Nye knows well what a mix of cultures
means to an individual and a family. She has chronicled, in poetry and prose,
her experience of being Arab American and the range of feelings inherent in
looking deeply at the connective threads and the chasms of one’s heritage. 19
Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East, her anthology of poems
published in 2002 not long after the September 11 tragedies, is a riveting
tapestry of life – food, home, landscape, memory, relationship, loss – in the
Middle East and in America. Ages 12 up.
