A recent broadcast on Fox's television show "America's Most Wanted" struck me as a somewhat familiar story. 
During the segment to which I am referring, two Texan high school sisters named Sarah and Amina Said were having problems balancing a Muslim tradition and an American one. Their father, Yaser Said, an Egyptian born Muslim, was extremely controlling of the girls' activities. He would not even let them have friends who were boys. The alleged outcome is that Yaser, upset by his daughters' Americanization, shot and killed them on January 1, 2008.
Read Sarah and Amina's full story here
This story reminded me of Naomi Shihab Nye's book Habibi, (1999).
This work follows American born fourteen year old Liyana as she struggles to balance cultural traditions when her family moves to Jerusalem.
Naomi Shihab Nye's book Habibi at Amazon.com
The fathers in both of these stories are often reminding their teenage daughters of proper Islamic behavior. Obviously the father on "America's Most Wanted" was much more controlling and violent than Liyana's father. However, the passion and stuggling that the Said family endured while trying to respect the tradions of two different cultures made me realize that the problems in the story Habibi do indeed exist in our society. This realization provides motivation to promote multiculture children's literature. Books like Habibi allow children and adolescents to "find themselves within the pages," (Levithan, 1). Authors and publishers need to continue to create books that deal with diverse issues, and librarians need to include these texts in their collections. This way children and adolescents may learn new ways to overcome such problems as transition into new cultures.
David Levithan's article "Supporting Gay Teen Literature"
Image: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/.../habibi.htm
During the segment to which I am referring, two Texan high school sisters named Sarah and Amina Said were having problems balancing a Muslim tradition and an American one. Their father, Yaser Said, an Egyptian born Muslim, was extremely controlling of the girls' activities. He would not even let them have friends who were boys. The alleged outcome is that Yaser, upset by his daughters' Americanization, shot and killed them on January 1, 2008.
Read Sarah and Amina's full story here
This story reminded me of Naomi Shihab Nye's book Habibi, (1999).
This work follows American born fourteen year old Liyana as she struggles to balance cultural traditions when her family moves to Jerusalem.Naomi Shihab Nye's book Habibi at Amazon.com
The fathers in both of these stories are often reminding their teenage daughters of proper Islamic behavior. Obviously the father on "America's Most Wanted" was much more controlling and violent than Liyana's father. However, the passion and stuggling that the Said family endured while trying to respect the tradions of two different cultures made me realize that the problems in the story Habibi do indeed exist in our society. This realization provides motivation to promote multiculture children's literature. Books like Habibi allow children and adolescents to "find themselves within the pages," (Levithan, 1). Authors and publishers need to continue to create books that deal with diverse issues, and librarians need to include these texts in their collections. This way children and adolescents may learn new ways to overcome such problems as transition into new cultures.
David Levithan's article "Supporting Gay Teen Literature"
Image: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/.../habibi.htm
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