Habibi

Hello All! There was definitely a lot of good thought provoking discussions during out class meeting this week! For instance, during my group’s discussion on Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye, we discussed how two people from one culture can have differing views and opinions on a given topic. This occurrence was evident between Poppy and his mother Sitti. By placing this idea within the novel, Nye can begin to show readers how not everyone from the Arab culture thinks the same way. I also thought this could be helpful when dealing with stereotypes about other cultures. When we understand that people belonging to the same culture can and do encompass differing beliefs and ideas, we hopefully can also see how inaccurate that makes hurtful stereotypes.

We also related our discussion back to the insider vs. outsider issue discussed last Wednesday in class. The question was brought up as to whether Liyana was an insider or an outsider to the Arab culture. It would seem Liyana should be considered an outsider based on the idea that most of the Arab world was completely foreign to her. However, Liyana’s heritage is half Arab, which might lead some to conclude Liyana as an Arab culture insider. For me, this is a question I am still unsure about, although I am leaning towards the outsider perspective. This is mainly based on Liyana spending all of her youth in America and her resistance to many customs of the Arab culture.

Lastly, I am beginning to see the overall purpose of Children’s Literature 448. I did not really know what to expect coming into this class. Maybe, I was hoping for all the answers to many complicated questions about diverse Children’s Literature. Or a list of “good” and “bad” books for the classroom. But I discovered it is more about learning strategies to accurately identify positive Children’s Diversity Literature. It reminds me of the common saying “Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he’ll eat forever!” This class is not about finding all the answers right now. It is about searching out better ways for us as educators to recognize and bring accurate and respectful diversity literature to our future classrooms.