Postcards

Adam & Thomas
Aharon Appelfeld
Illus. Philippe Dumas
Trans. Jeffrey M. Green
New York: Seven Stories Press, 2015. 149 pp.
ISBN: 1609806344
(Fiction; ages 9–13)

Recipient of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and a Batchelder Honor Book, this historical novel is based on the author's own childhood experiences during World War II in Eastern Europe. Adam's mother brings him from the Jewish ghetto to the forest and leaves him with the reassuring words, "Don't be afraid. You know the forest very well, and everything that's in it" (p. 5). Adam meets Thomas, his classmate whose mother has also taken him into the forest. The two nine-year-olds build a "nest" in the trees, eat foods of the forest, and provide each other emotional support. Small miracles occur: Adam's dog Miro finds him and brings the boys comfort; another classmate, Mina, who is being hid on a peasant farm, leaves them food. Although aspects of the war surround them like shots in the night and fleeing men, the book is more about survival, resourcefulness, and courage. The boys help fugitives who are injured and rescue Mina from her oppressor. Watercolor ink drawings by French illustrator Philippe Dumas portray the boys' experiences. This hopeful book demonstrates how friendship and compassion can sustain you even amidst the horrors of war.

Evelyn B. Freeman

Balcony on the Moon: Coming of Age in Palestine
Ibtisam Barakat
New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2016. 220 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780374302511
Memoir; ages 12-18)

People who read and loved the beautiful award-winning Tasting the Sky: A Palestinian Childhood by this Palestinian-American writer and poet happily welcomed its sequel eight years later. Barakat's memoir, called by some reviewers as "poetic," reflects the writer's adolescent life and the socio-economic implications of Israeli occupation, told through five chapters named after the five houses she lived in with her family. Barakat recounts her story personally using the present tense—an additional attraction for the reader.

This memoir is full of genuine, interesting details and feelings: how Barakat fights for her rights as an ardent feminist with strong determination to become a writer and how she joins the youth protests against occupation and starts to discover her national identity. She brilliantly portrays the changes and paradoxes in her society: how her mother, who was forced into an early marriage, decides and succeeds twenty years later to finish her studies and even get the support of her husband. Barakat's memoir is an enjoyable mixture of empowering, inspiring, heart-breaking, and humorous stories!

Jehan Helou

The Elders at the Door
Maryanne Bester
Illus. Shayle Bester
Johannesburg, South Africa: Jacana Media. 2017. Unpaged.
ISBN: 9781431422739
(Picture book: ages 7-11)

The Bester sisters first introduced Nguni cattle as "human" creatures for our indigenous children's literature in 2007 with The Cool Nguni (and subsequent titles). In The Elders at the Door, they have created a horned goat family living in old rural African style and superbly dressed. They should be-the father is a tailor. In the early morning, three strangers come knocking at the door. For their hospitality to be accepted, the family must choose one of the strangers: their names are Blessing, Wisdom, and Love (represented by grandly-dressed hippopotamus, owl, and donkey). The right choice is made, and all three are able to enter because "Where there is Love, there is also Blessing and Wisdom." Such a message is certainly worth thinking through, but the artwork carries this book. It is thoroughly and magnificently African, each spread having solidity, impact, and great dignity amongst the fun In this picture book, you can admire the sartorial elegance of Africa with rich glowing colors to explore and enjoy Also available in Afrikaans, isiXhosa, and isiZulu.

Jay Heale

Furqan's First Flat Top/El Primer Corte de Mesita de Furqan
Robert Liu-Trujillo
Trans. Cynthia Muñoz
Oakland, CA: Come Bien Books, 2016. Unpaged.
ISBN: 9780996717809
(Picturebook; ages 5–9)

Ten-year-old Furqan has decided it is time to shed his baby curls and get a flat-top haircut like his friend Marcus...