{"id":527196,"date":"2010-04-14T10:03:19","date_gmt":"2010-04-14T14:03:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bookdragon.si.edu\/?p=9226"},"modified":"2010-04-14T10:03:19","modified_gmt":"2010-04-14T14:03:19","slug":"the-shepherd%e2%80%99s-granddaughter-by-anne-laurel-carter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/527196","title":{"rendered":"The Shepherd\u2019s Granddaughter by Anne Laurel Carter"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Last week, this article landed in my inbox: “Jewish Group Boycotts Canadian Kids’ Book<\/a>.” \u00a0The comments are also well worth reading.\u00a0Then a friend sent me another related article which announced, “Controversial Mideast book stays in Toronto schools<\/a>.” The running quote box on the left side is not to be missed …<\/p>\n

Book banning\/boycotting always frightens and fascinates me. So of course I had to read the book in question, especially a title that has been honored in eight award programs, including the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children. No small recognition there! Not to mention a portion of the book’s royalties gets donated to the Children in Crisis Fund of IBBY, the International Board on Books for Young People<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The story is haunting and inspiring both; it’s also just a really good bookl. At age 6, Amani, the youngest daughter of an extended Palestinian family, already knows exactly what she wants … to be a shepherd just like her grandfather, and continue the thousand-years-plus family shepherding tradition. In a world of cell phones and email, Amani is almost an anachronism, but she’s also a tenacious child who learns quickly and establishes a touching relationship with the well-tended flock.<\/p>\n

In spite of her family’s protestations, her grandfather \u2013 elderly, but still the head of the extended family \u2013\u00a0agrees to take her on as his apprentice.\u00a0Under his loving guidance, Amani becomes an expert shepherd, and carries on even after the beloved patriarch passes away. Initially homeschooled by siblings and cousins, Amani \u2013 who also proves to be one smart student \u2013\u00a0does get to high school, determined to learn English, which she realizes she must speak in her quickly-changing world. Most disturbing and dangerous of all, a Jewish settlement is quickly encroaching upon the family lands. Violent conflict proves inevitable and\u00a0Amani’s family can never be the same again.<\/p>\n

Author Carter opens her book with “This novel is a fictional rendering of a complex situation,” an understatement at best. The destructive history of the Middle East seems both timeless and neverending. Politicians, soldiers, theorists, religious leaders, students, mothers, artists, peacemakers, every day people everywhere have tried to find a solution … one has <\/em>to believe that peace is<\/em> inevitable in the future …<\/p>\n

Should this book be banned? No. Is this book controversial? Yes. Can it be used to start dialogue? Absolutely. Toronto School Board Executive Director of Equity, Lloyd McKell is quoted in the\u00a0parentcentral.ca article<\/a> mentioned above, “… this book can certainly be used to explore issues of bias and prejudice, and that students can learn from such exploration\u2026”<\/p>\n

By book’s close, much to her family’s initial dismay, Amani’s calls for outside help are to her father’s friend, a Jewish rabbi, who brings along a determined Jewish lawyer. Meanwhile, Amani and the teenage son of one of the Jewish settlers’ leaders become promising friends. The message \u2013at least here \u2013\u00a0is clear: The children will be the ones to find and make that peace.<\/p>\n

Readers<\/strong>: Middle Grade, Young Adult<\/p>\n

Published<\/strong>: 2008<\/p>\n

Filed under: ..Middle Grade Readers<\/a>, ..Young Adult Readers<\/a>, .Fiction<\/a>, Canadian<\/a>, Jewish<\/a>, Middle Eastern<\/a>, Palestinian<\/a> Tagged: Civil rights<\/a>, Family<\/a>, Friendship<\/a>, Grandparents<\/a>, Religious differences<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last week, this article landed in my inbox: “Jewish Group Boycotts Canadian Kids’ Book.” \u00a0The comments are also well worth reading.\u00a0Then a friend sent me another related article which announced, “Controversial Mideast book stays in Toronto schools.” The running quote box on the left side is not to be missed … Book banning\/boycotting always frightens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2824,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-527196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2824"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527196"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527196\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}