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A window in the wall: Palestinians in children''s literature.

Article Excerpt
We all like to read about ourselves. Many an African-American or Hispanic writer, for example, has commented on how sad it was, in his or her childhood, to find that there were no stories about "children like me." Why wouldn't that be true for Arab-American children as well?

Fortunately, the emphasis on multicultural literature for children--based on the idea that all cultural, national, and ethnic groups are worthy of positive attention and should be treated with respect--has brought increased awareness of peoples of the Middle East. Much more is needed, both for the sake of young people from Middle Eastern cultures and--probably even more so--for American youth in general. In these times, when our nation is so entangled in the Arab/Muslim world, Americans urgently need a more accurate and open-minded acquaintance with that part of the global village. Good books for children are an obvious first step.

I'm speaking here particularly of fiction, because I believe it's fiction that has the deepest, most lasting effect on a young person. A good story, appealing to the emotions and offering characters with whom the reader can identify, can help form impressions that a young person carries through life--subliminal attitudes that influence the adult's perception of the world and its peoples.

The majority of books available in the U.S. about Middle Eastern cultures are picture books. Most--such as the Arabian Nights, fairy tales, folklore--are "safe" stories set in a fabled long-ago time that say nothing about the realities of today. A few fine books, however, look at the contemporary Middle East and reveal something of what life is like in, say, an Egyptian middle-class family or a Turkish neighborhood.

But what about the Palestinians, embroiled as they are in the most thorny of all Middle Eastern conflicts? To many Americans, due to the slant of our popular media and our government, Palestinians are commonly associated with one word--terrorist--as though Palestinians are the one ethnic group that can still be maligned with impunity. I wonder what effect that has on Palestinian-American children and on other American children, who typically hear Palestinians referred to only in a highly charged context.

Given the controversy surrounding the Palestinian cause and the passions it arouses in the U.S., one might assume that authors and publishers alike would steer clear of the subject. That, however, has proved an unduly pessimistic view. Palestinians do appear in books for young people--and have for many years. Are they depicted with the sensitivity now standard in describing other ethnic groups, or are the scales tipped against them?

Not...

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