These Olive Trees
In this vibrantly illustrated tale, first-time author-illustrator Ghanameh has crafted a poignant story that will enthrall the emerging reader. Aimed at ages 4-7, this story taps into burgeoning curiosities and imagined futures. The author is to be congratulated for weaving a complex narrative with sophisticated language and vocabulary that will challenge young readers.
The overarching setting of a tedious refugee camp in Palestine in 1967 anchors the care taken with olive trees. Oraib, a young girl, watches as her mother carefully tends to local trees and initiates Oraib into the unique place that the olive holds in her extended family’s history.
In this 8 ½” by 11” volume, the striking full-page visuals tell a parallel story that enhances the narrative, one filled with pathos, hope, and personal bitterness, where there is no happy denouement to close the literary circle. Oraib and her family are forced to move once again. Showing a newly emerging emotional strength, she carefully plants an olive pit in the hope that she will be able to return.
