Sitti's Secrets

     Sitti's Secrets is a picture book by Naomi Shihab Nye about a little girl's visit with her grandmother in Palestine. From the little girl, Mona's perspective, we are are told of the tremendous distance between the two. Sitti, we learn, is Arabic for Grandma. Mona does not speak Arabic but describes the sound of her Sitti's voice as whooshing "like wind going around corners." She loves the time she spends with her grandmother and they find ways to communicate despite speaking different languages.
     This story does a beautiful job of teaching that people are more the same than different, despite differences in language and style of dress. Grandmother's still love grandchildren and vice-versa even when half a world is between them. Mona writes to the President and tells him about her grandmother and her wish for peace. This story makes me hope he read it.

A Maze Me

     A Maze Me: Poems for Girls by Naomi Shihab Nye contains over one hundred pages of poems divided into five sections. The blue-green shade of the front cover has the look and feel of chalk. The sky-blue end papers compliment the yellow of the dust jacket and give the feel of a sunny, summer day. The title page illustration has features a keyhole to give the feel of a girls diary. Interior illustrations continue the chalk/crayon style.

     The primary audience for the poems is middle school girls. One poem I believe they would appreciate and relate to is "In the School Cafeteria."  Nye's sense of humor is evident in two of my favorite poems, "Having Forgotten to Bring a Book" and "If the Shoe Doesn't fit". Native Texans will enjoy "Abandoned Post Office, Big Bend", "Meteor Watch", and "Little Blanco River".