Naomi Shihab Nye Books

Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry is truly great. I had the pleasure of doing a workshop with her at the Kentucky Women's Writers Conference last year, and I can tell you she really inspired the poet in me too. This is fine collection.

This is a lovely poet. And these are moving poems. Unpretentious and direct.

I remember a time when poems were supposed to be intelligent and well-written and creative. What has happened, that this lazy, self-indulgent, unimaginative writer has received even the lukewarm acclaim that she has?

Naomi Shihab Nye is still able to find greatness in the small things. Her new book of poems, "Fuel,"reminds the reader that there poetry is all around us, on our street, in our children and even in a garden of beans. Nye's poetry is a work of surprising images and deceptive simplicity. In "Alphabet" we watch as older residents of her neighborhood who are "going up/into the air." Her writing is poignant and clears the air of stuffy, undecipherable, ego poetry. It is obvious with poems like "Messenger" and "Hidden" is that Nye's goal is to write accessible and enjoyable poetry for her readers. Nye mixes humor with clarity and subtle observations to create a grounded book of poems about life and living. "Fuel" shows us that Nye still has many stories left to tell and she has done so exquisitely in this collection.

It is quite difficult to get through the work of many contemporary poets. So many write of themselves only, and have a tendency to go on and on...writing from the heart is one thing, but to rant incessantly is quite another. As a children's poet, I teach the importance of observing, valuing, cherishing the world around, to see it with "new eyes", and to feel free to share what you discover. It was always apparent to me that the poet's job is to "make new" what is usually thought of as ordinary, to help us to reconnect with the world and each other. This may sound idealistic, but these are the poets/the poetry I find to be most effective (effective in stirring emotion). And Ms. Nye's poetry is so effective...she finds the sublime, the painful, the curious in everything and everyone around her. THAT is poetry! I am so happy that she is around to remind us of it!! We need more poets/teachers like her...

I had to read several multicultural books for a college class in children's literature. I found this book at the library. I think it would be a nice book for children in 2nd grade to read. Not a lot of text.

This book is unusal because it is photographs of the sky as it goes through different types of weather conditions. The photographs are beautiful and faith building.

I am reading this book, and it is honestly one of the worst books I've ever read.

This is a great IDEA for a book, but it should have been written in first person, and there are mulpitle passages that are hard to understand the way they are worded, and it is really over-dramatic and corny in some places.

I especially disagree with the reveiwer who related this book to A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, that is my favorite book ever, and i couldn't stand "Habibi".

This book is literally driving me crazy.

Liyana's father is an Arab, born and raised in Palestine before there were religious wars there. When he was done with high school and college, he was offered a chance to go to medical school in the United States. He went, met Liyana's mother, fell in love and stayed in Missouri to raise Liyana and her younger brother Rafik.

Now Liyana is about to start high school and Rafik is about to start middle school. Their parents decide it is the perfect time for the family to move. Their father had always hoped that their children would know both the American and Arab sides of their heritage.

So, during the summer, the family packs up and moves to Jerusalem, where they have numerous relatives they've never met. People there don't speak much English, and Liyana has a hard time communicating. She goes to an Armenian school where she has lessons in Arabic with the kindergarten students.

However, Liyana is able to adjust to life in a new country. Things become even better when she meets a boy she likes during her lunch hour one day. The only problem is that the boy is Jewish, which causes some hard feelings in Liyana's family.

I liked being able to get a taste of what it would be like living in Jerusalem as a child. I liked reading about the history behind the city and what it was like a few years ago when this book was written. I also liked the relationships between the parents and children in this family.

However, I found this story very unrealistic. I couldn't believe that neither Liyana nor Rafik put up a fuss about moving to a different country. I also couldn't believe how well they were accepted in their new home.

I was assigned to read this book by my LA (English teacher), at first I have to say I wasn't very happy because the book looked really boring, but after I read the first couple of chapters I was really liked the book. The book Habibi by Naomi Shihab Nye is about a 14-year-old girl named Liyana who finds out that all of a sudden her family is moving all the way across the ocean to Jerusalem. This is a problem because Liyana has just recently kissed on of her good friends and doesn't want to move away. I think the author Naomi Shihab Nye is a very good writer and writes about simple things in life that just happen to cause huge problems. All of her problems that she writes about in the book are realistic and believable. But what I really liked is that Naomi Shihab Nye made Liyana a believable character and that give a hint of reality in this book. During the book, Liyana goes through many changes and challenges and that's something a lot of girls can relate to and I think that's why I kept reading the book. This is a really enjoyable book, and I would highly recommend this book to someone.(L Chow)

As a tutor for middle-school and high-school students, I thought that this book would be an age-appropriate, poetic introduction to the complicated history of Palestine and Israel as told by a teenager. I was appalled to find that this book is very slanted toward Palestinians, portraying Israelis as either ashamed of their actions or brutal, mindless hoodlums. As a feminist, I was also irritated by the non-portrayal of the mother, who is two-dimensional at best. If you must have your students read this book, please pair it with a book written from a Jewish perspective. Or, brush up on your Middle Eastern history, so you can bring some depth and nuance to a complicated problem, and not the simplistic stereotypes as found in this novel.

I was introduced to Naomi Shihab Nye earlier this year as a poet and I was instantly hooked, her poetry was both compelling and inspirational. When I learned that she had written a novel, I wasted no time in reading it.

Once I opened Habibi, I was instantly lured in by the impeccable use of image grammar techniques, especially metaphors. It seems like nearly everything was a symbol of something quite ominous and conspicuous. The plot was truly moving, and, unlike that other person who reviewed this book, I believe it is in no way offensive to Jews. While it did speak of the Jewish community in a way that had a slightly negative outlook, it was overridden by the main character's point of view, who sees no reason to be separate from them, though she is a little wary. I think that is fine though, because it supplies a reality of wanting to learn more about other cultures and races and learning how to live among them.

I also liked the sentences at the top of each chapter. I found this use of foreshadowing far more interesting than the regular use, and the words within them tasted sweet upon my tongue. Some of them were so realistic and bold that I wanted to do away with them, for there meanings were so heavy. Here are a few that I particularly liked: "She opened her mouth and a siren came out" as well as "Water came from the earth and stories sprang from the stones" and "Teach me to sew a vine of stars." I loved these.

Overall, Habibi has several beautiful messages:
1. We must surf the waves on which we are given, or else we will crash
2. The only way to find inner peace is to find peace within your community
3. There is always a balance
4. Things are not always as they seem; unexpected treasures can be found anywhere and everywhere

In conclusion, I think it is an incredible book, and I have no idea how anybody could not like it. The surface supplies a very boring plot, but once you start looking closely, it forces you into emotions, meanings, symbols, questions, and answers that you would never have thought of. I daresay I will continue to read the Naomi Shihab Nye's masterpieces.

I hate preachy books, and this one takes preachyness to this whole new strange level. Apperently big buisnesses are horrible,and everyone who works for them is too. And Florrie's such an idealist and single minded there's very little realism. The book loves to blow everything out of perportion.

The names are also annoying. Florrie, True, Zip, Ramsey, etc, it's as if the author decided that creativity was important. The author also seems afraid of using normal human speech.

The cconversations aree unrealistic and stiff. I honestly finished this book just so i could review it.

I'm tired of all this nonsense about beauty being only skin deep. That's deep enough. What do you want, an adorable spleen?
-This qoute comes from a relativily famous person.

I agree with the editorial review that says the book feels more purposeful than compelling. The idea of fighting to save small businesses is a good base for a book, but it dominates all aspects of this work. The characters do seem rather flat, with what dimension they have thrown in to try to help the reader ignore their unnatural single-mindedness. I became tired of the activist rhetoric at times, and Nye's creations seemed a bit fake upon close examination - who says that "teenage activists" have to conform to unusual styles of dress, be superartsy, and have strange names? What carries this book along is an honest love of cool little neighborhood businesses, and the tenderness with which the author renders them.

I may be prejudiced, since I am a fan of Nye's poetry. Or I may be prejudiced because I, like the central character in this novel, love old neighborhoods and believe the ubiquitous, china-shipping strip-mall school of architecture is slowly killing our souls. Unlike some previous reviewers, I found this novel to be compelling, so much so that I read almost the entire book in one sitting. In my opinion Nye put just as much gravity, joy and truth in this novel as she does in her poetry.

This book captures your attention from the first page. I was instantly charmed by Florrie, the main character. She is an idealistic young girl with a cause. She, as her grandfather before her, is saddened by the loss of so many small businesses in her neighborhood. Her neighborhood just happens to be downtown San Antonio. Nye describes this city so beautifully that I find myself wanting to move there. Florrie's cause is to boycott all of the large franchise establishments, hoping to help the small businesses stay afloat. The characters are engaging, the setting is charming, and Nye's writing is lovely. I thoroughly enjoyed this book - and I'm an adult with children in the target reading age!

She writes as if she's full of love and warmth, when in fact she's suffused with hatred and bigotry. She's the biggest phony in poetry. The real purpose of this book is to turn you against jews.

I got this book from a penpal with a personal dedication of Naomi Shihab Nye herself. My friend wrote me, that the author was quite excited, that a guy from Germany will read her poetry. Well, the guy from Germany did read it for several times now and this book becomes better and better the more you read it. I hoped to meet Naomi Nye at Madhatter's Tea House in her home town San Antonio, Texas in October 1996. Unfortunately I didn't meet her there, so now I hope, she'll read these words of Kai from Germany!

Nye is amazing, both in person and in her books. She is kind and quiet and elogent and haunting with her words. Her poem, Next Time, is my favorite. It's simple and short and one of those poems that is much bigger than it's words. I find it repeating in my head from time to time. Nye is gifted and generous and should be appluaded greatly for her work.

English is a simplistic language when compared to a great many other languages. It simply doesn't have the same potential for subtle nuances, rhyming, and other things of that nature. With that in mind, it's always hit-or-miss as to whether a translated poem will carry the same impact in English as it did in its original language. That, I would say, is one of the problems with this book, and it's not the book's, nor Naomi Shihab Nye's fault.

As the other reviewer said, some of the poems are quite good, some are obscure, and some are downright puzzling, and I imagine those particular ones, in their original language, had a lot more clarity of vision and feeling. The cultural backgrounds are a pitfall, as was also stated, though if a reader has a small knowledge of world history, the captions at the bottom of each poem which state the country of the author's origin are a great help. For example, when reading a poem about scrounging in the jungle, looking for a few scraps of rice, AK-47 in hand, it helps to know if the author is Vietnamese.

That notwithstanding, some of the poems are simply confusing, and I am an English major, and some, also due to the translation, I imagine, seem more like straight-forward prose.

All in all, This Same Sky is a good collection, and it does a very good job representing a broad cross-section of the world. It's just a shame the English language doesn't do the works justice. So, with that in mind, it's the translation's fault that I only gave the book 3 stars.

Naomi Shihab Nye has collected over one hundred poems from poets all over the world. The poems are about many things, including nature and families. While the details of the poetry (items, animals and birds) are foreign, the feelings expressed are familiar to us all.

Some of the poems are funny, like the one from Altazor by Vicente Huidobro, many others are sad ("My Life Story" by Lan Nguyen and "Behind Bars" by Fadwa Tuqan). Some poems are puzzling, like "Petrified Minute" by Zoltan Zelk and others make you want to know more of the story behind them, like Ruth Dallas's "A New Dress" and Gu Cheng's "A Headstrong Boy." There are poems that create beautiful mental images, and poems that leave the reader bewildered and vaguely disturbed (Tony Perez's "Volunteer Worker").

While the words have been translated into English, much of this poetry is difficult to understand. Many poems would be almost meaningless for a reader with no frame of reference to place the poem in. The poem "Jerusalem" by the Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai is one that a reader with little knowledge about the history of Palestine would find puzzling. The brief Notes on the Contributors at the back of the volume help explain a little more about the poets, but to truly understand some of the poetry more background information is needed. This collection is not one most children will fully understand on their own.

I suppose the reason I really didn't like this book was because I am not a fan of peotry. I prefer fiction novels, mysteries, adventures, etc. I did however appreciate the whole background of why the book was put together.

I like poetry, but the poems in this book are all written in the same style. There is no creativity shown, and no real variation. I have yet to find a person who liked this book. "Jump city", the poem from which the title was drawn, is the second worst poem I have ever read.

I enjoyed this books unique theme of giving two sides on the same topic. There is a male and a female speaker in a poem inspired about the same thing. The most interesting part of the book was to see how two people can thing of things in such a different way. At times when I couldn't identify with one, I could identify with the other. The great thing was when I could understand both and think, hey that is a great way to look at it. I felt that this book really caused me to open my mind and not to expect things so much. I also like the great emotions that were pulled out of me while reading the book. There were topics such as death, fathers, hospitals, relaxation, childhood, beliefs, common day existance, and objects commonly thought of as irrevelent. The fact the the book is made up of poetry also gave it chances to be open and the reader to find their own meanings. I felt that I could understand this poetry and that it is current. It was published in 1996, that is probally why. The poems also flow smoothly in general and have come sort of conclusive meaning. Other poetry is harder for me to read because it is too whimsical and I guess and comtemplate the meaning too much and never figure it out. The two views on the same subject seems to set this book apart from others. I think that it is great that it gives two ways for a person to look at something. When I write, I write as a matter of factly and a this is the only way solution. I enjoyed the legnth of the poems in this book because they were catchy and descriptive, yet not overbearing. One of my favorite poems in there is titled Conversation With A Fireman From Brooklyn. It envoked so many emotions from me. A part in it says, "Already he's telling me he dosen't mind women firefighters, but what/they look like after fighting a fire, well/they loose all respect." The male speaker goes on to act as if the only thing good about a women is how they look with a stay in the kitchen attitude. As a female I was disturbed by it. There are also great looks back at childhood. In the poem Dark Song a great part says, "Don't be scared of the dark:/ all night is the biggest shadow/ little kid in the biggest shadow. The book also includes interesting titles that made we wonder and keep reading. Such titles are Black Patent Leather Shoes, The Locker Room, and The Pyramid of Khufu. The whole idea behind the book I feel A little Jumpy Around You is a great example to readers and writers everywhere. Again, I would like to stress how much I enjoyed the different speakers in the poems, the giving of more than one view on the same subject, messages that are clear to understand, but you can interpert them in your own way, creative similies and metaphors that even youth can pick up on, modern subject matter, and poems that are a nice legnth to keep me motivated. The only dissappointment was that all the poems seemed to include a few choppy lines and I feel that there should have been different rhythms and structures used.

Collected in PAIRS -- that is, two at a time, this collection looks at the world through male and female eyes. It delights not just with the usual anthologist's skill of finding wonderful poems for us to read, but with the collaborative skill of two people who care deeply about quality verse for young adults. A marvelous collection.

As my prof pointed out, it's too random at times. Very sensual details and lovely images, but somehow falls into the personal, over-serious sense of self-grandeur that some writers get (men and women, and before you go bouncing around, I'm a lady, y'all)