These Olive Trees

by Aya Ghanameh (Author) Aya Ghanameh (Illustrator)

Reading Level: 2nd − 3rd Grade

The story of a Palestinian family's ties to the land, and how one young girl finds a way to care for her home, even as she says goodbye.

It's 1967 in Nablus, Palestine.

Oraib loves the olive trees that grow outside the refugee camp where she lives. Each harvest, she and her mama pick the small fruits and she eagerly stomp stomp stomps on them to release their golden oil. Olives have always tied her family to the land, as Oraib learns from the stories Mama tells of a home before war.

But war has come to their door once more, forcing them to flee. Even as her family is uprooted, Oraib makes a solemn promise to her beloved olive trees. She will see to it that their legacy lives on for generations to come.

Debut author-illustrator Aya Ghanameh boldly paints a tale of bitterness, hope, and the power of believing in a free and thriving future.

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$18.99

Kirkus

A sorrowful tale of the impact of warfare, infused with hope.


Publishers Weekly

The importance of olive trees to one Palestinian family is magnified in this picture book focused on a child's awareness of her family's history. Drawing on personal background, per an author's note, Ghanameh introduces Oraib, a girl who lives in "a makeshift canvas house in the Balata refugee camp... the only home she's ever known." Just outside the camp, Oraib's family carries on her ancestors' tradition of caring for olive trees: before war prompted them to flee, her family "tended the olive trees... for hundreds of years" in the coastal village of Al-Tira. As war again draws close and the family prepares to journey from the camp, Oraib worries about the future of the local trees, and resolves to ensure that they endure. In an earthy palette and velvety textures, Ghanameh's hand-drawn, digitally finished illustrations portray the family's ancestral home and the camp, while ghostly arms suggest rising threats. Bittersweet in both words and images, this moving debut conveys one girl's powerful attempt to secure her family's legacy despite uncertainty. Ages 3-5. (Aug.)

Copyright 2023 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.

Review quotes

Praise for These Olive Trees

In this poignant yet child-appropriate perspective on warfare, Ghanameh's hand-drawn illustrations full of green landscape and white tents bring to life the refugee experience. [...] A sorrowful tale of the impact of warfare, infused with hope.—Kirkus Reviews
Aya Ghanameh
Aya Ghanameh is a Palestinian illustrator, writer, and designer from Amman, Jordan. Her work moves away from state-centric ways of thinking to center the voices of ordinary people in historical and political narratives. Her debut picture book, These Olive Trees, is inspired by the experiences of her family who cultivated her love of the land throughout her upbringing in exile. Having graduating from the Rhode Island School of Design, she is currently based in New York City where she overspends on food from Arab restaurants.

You can visit Aya online at ayaghanameh.com or follow her on Twitter @ayaghanameh.
Classification
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780593525180
Lexile Measure
-
Guided Reading Level
-
Publisher
Viking Books for Young Readers
Publication date
August 22, 2023
Series
-
BISAC categories
JUV013030 - Juvenile Fiction | Family | Multigenerational
JUV039250 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Emigration & Immigration
JUV016210 - Juvenile Fiction | Historical | Middle East
Library of Congress categories
-

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