Three Wishes - Softcover

Deborah Ellis

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1845077431 ISBN 13: 9781845077433

Publisher: Frances Lincoln, 2007

Synopsis

This book is about the children of the war-torn Middle East. Deborah Ellis, author of the enormously popular Parvana, turns her attention to the children of Israel and Palestine, presenting their stories based on interviews done in the winter of 2002 while in Israel and Palestine. In a rehabilitation center for disabled children, twelve-year-old Nora says she loves the colour pink and chewing gum and explains that the wheels of her wheelchair are like her legs. Eleven-year-old Mohammad describes how his house was demolished by soldiers. And we meet twelve-year-old Salam, whose older sister walked into a shop in Jerusalem and blew herself up, killing herself and two people, and injuring twenty others. This simple and telling book allows children everywhere to see those caught in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as children just like themselves, but who are living far more difficult, dangerous lives. The text includes brief background information, black-and-white photographs taken by the author, a map, a glossary and suggestions for further reading.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Ellis lives in Canada. She is the author of the popular Breadwinner trilogy and campaigns for peace and social justice.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7-9–This collection of accounts from young people between the ages of 8 and 18 portrays the sapping toll of war on their lives. Instead of looking toward their futures, these kids are watching their backs. Instead of playing games of pick-up ball in the street, they're lobbing rocks at soldier's and dodging tear gas and bullets. Israeli students are pressed into military service. In Palestine, the scanty settlements are overcrowded and unsafe. Each narrative is prefaced with a short historical or personal background description providing a point of reference for the sentiments expressed. Ellis effectively remains absent, serving as chronicler for these ordinary kids in traumatic circumstances who are tinged by varying degrees of anger and despair. One Palestinian student, 11, states: "I don't know any Israeli children. I don't want to know any. They hate me, and I hate them." Another child comments: "If I had three wishes I would become a doctor and I would be famous, maybe as a writer. And I would be able to walk." And another individual says that she has just one wish: "I want the war to end, so I can keep living in Israel and raise my children here." Average-quality, black-and-white photos of the narrators and of scenes in Ramallah and elsewhere are included. It's a wonder these children have any wishes at all. An excellent presentation of a confusing historic struggle, told within a palpable, perceptive and empathetic format.–Alison Follos, North Country School, Lake Placid, NY
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Edition details

• Publisher: Frances Lincoln
• Publication date: 2007
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1845077431
• ISBN 13: 9781845077433
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 128