Samir, a Palestinian boy who faces surgery in an Israeli hospital, reveals the fear and the violence that have marked his life in the occupied West Bank. At the same time, he discovers that he shares certain cultural and personal experiences with the Israeli children. In Yonatan, an astronomer's son, he finds a kindred spirit. Together, they plan an imaginary journey to Mars, and begin to transcend the differences between them. Text copyright 2004 Lectorum Publications, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.

A Palestinian boy comes to terms with his younger brother's death in this slow-paced but moving novel originally published in Hebrew in 1994. In homage to the bravery of his brother Fadi, who was killed by an Israeli soldier, Samir shatters his kneebone in a daredevil bicycle feat. Consequently, he must undergo a special operation at the "Jews' hospital." Samir's fever plus the sealing off of territories keeps the boy hospitalized for several weeks in a ward with four Israeli children, including Yonatan, a boy with a hand in an "iron contraption" and a head in the clouds. The author simultaneously and effectively sketches the understated friendship that develops between the pair ("Together we're two boys with three legs and three hands," says Yonatan) and uses flashbacks to reveal the details of Samir's life in the occupied West Bank, including the effect of his brother's death on his family. Some readers may find the book's climax troubling: Samir, while playing a computer game with Yonatan in which he creates a new planet where "everything is possible," comes to believe that Fadi died because "he didn't have anything to carry on with." However, the book's understated tone and detailed character development prevent its message from becoming obvious or heavyhanded. Ages 8-12. (Mar.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr 4-8-Riding his bicycle down the market steps, a young Palestinian falls and smashes his knee so badly that he needs surgery. For the first time in his life, Samir leaves his home in the Occupied Territories to go to a Jewish hospital where an American doctor will operate on him. While waiting for the procedure, Samir gets to know the other children on his ward, all Jews. Beautiful Ludmilla is pining away for her home in Russia and refusing to eat. Razia hides under her bed in fear of her father. Hyperactive Tzahi can't urinate properly and, most importantly, Yonatan with the crippled arm introduces Samir to the stars, computer games, and the way imagination can take one away from a place of pain. As Samir thinks about the home he misses, details of his family life are revealed. Readers learn that his younger brother was killed, shot while playing in the street by a man wearing the same uniform that Tzahi's brother wears when he visits. His older brother has gone to Kuwait to earn money and his mother works two jobs. His father has stopped talking. As the hospitalized children spend time together, they come to support one another, forming a team that crosses cultural boundaries. Samir and Yonatan take an illegal night outing to commandeer an office computer to play a game. Life in the hospital is described as clearly as life in the Occupied Territories and readers will sympathize with Samir's fear and loneliness and welcome his new friendships. Written in Hebrew but published first in Germany, the book is smoothly translated and will have wide appeal.-Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. From: Reed Elsevier Inc. Copyright Reed Business Information

Gr. 6^-10. The bitter suffering of a Palestinian family is at the center of this moving novel, eloquently translated from the Hebrew. It's told in the voice of Samir, a young Arab boy from the West Bank, who has been sent for surgery to an Israeli hospital. The children's ward is comfortable, the staff is kind, most of the Jewish kids accept him, and one patient, Yonatan, becomes Samir's friend. In fact, the food, shelter, and attention are luxuries compared with Samir's harsh daily life under occupation. His parents can't visit because of a curfew, and his memories of home are scary vignettes of a war zone. Always he's haunted by the death of his younger brother, his closest buddy, shot to death in the alley near home. This is a book to read with Naomi Shihab Nye's Habibi (1997), also about an Arab and a Jew who find their common humanity. Samir's Jewish friend, Yonatan, is too saintly, more an author-mentor than a character as he takes Samir on a computer journey through space to Mars ("Samir, we're made of stardust. . . . Us and the stars . . . are made of the same stuff"). But with the message, there's the moving drama of individual kids who become friends and help each other through pain when they get a chance to know each other. --Hazel Rochman From: Syndetics Solutions, Inc. Distributed by Syndetic Solutions, Inc.