Book Review:

A little piece of ground by Elizabeth Laird

This book takes place in Palestineand tells the stroy of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from a Palestinian point of view, an eleven year-old boy called Karim.
Karim Aboudi has been stuck insidean apartment block for weeks in Ramallah because of a curfew set by the Israelis with his Mum (Lamia), Dad (Hassan), older brother (Jamal) and two younger sisters(Farah and Sireen). He longs to go play soccer outside with his friends and when they find the perfect soccer pitch the boys decide to clear it when they are caught by Israeli soldiers during a curfew and their lives are in danger.

What I think of it: I thought that the book wasn't extremely interesting untill over half way throught the book. The author did well to decribe the characters and the scenes but could have worked on making it more interstenting for my age group (13-14yrs). This is not my favourite genre and I think I will enjoy fantisy (the next genre we are reading).

In my opinion the age group in 15 and older as people younger than this will get bored very easily with this book as it isn't very captivating as I mentioned before. ( )

It is refreshing to read a children's novel that so honestly examines conflict. OK, so it is written within the conventions of children's fiction, so the three main protagonists are unrealistically optimistic and resilient in the face of the hardships they suffer, but it still gets across some truths to which children in the UK will rarely be exposed without sacrificing a strong sense of narrative.

Set in Ramallah, the story focuses on Karim, Joni and Hopper as they live under the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The three boys are drawn from across social and religious boundaries to emphasise the generic conventions of searching for social harmony and oneness, but still the novel manages to stress the historical circumstances of Israeli occupation, openly referring to torture within prisons, the shooting of innocents and the forcible taking of land.

I know it is not genuinely realistic but what a great starting point for young readers. It also made me re-evaluate my reading of John Boyne's 'The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas', which I found enjoyable but unsettling on some unknown level. I now think I can articulate where that came from. 'Pyjamas' decontextualises events. The historical forces that led to the Nazi persecution of the Jews are brushed aside by the naivety of nine-year-old Bruno's narration. As such readers are presented with an overly simplified view of human nature: there are good people and bad people and you better watch out because those bad people may get you whatever side of the line you exist upon. 'A Little Piece of Ground', on the other hand, while alluding to the possibility of wrong-doing from all sides of a conflict, is very clear that people act in certain ways under certain circumstances. Only when young people begin to understand this can they begin to fully understand one another. Excellent stuff. Made me want to read more by Laird. ( )

FROM PUBLISHER'S INFO:
"Twelve-year-old Karim Aboudi and his family are trapped in their Ramallah home by a strict curfew. In response to a Palestinian suicide bombing, the Israeli military subjects the West Bank town to a virtual siege. Meanwhile, Karim, trapped at home with his teenage brother and fearful parents, longs to play football with his friends. When the curfew ends, he and his friend discover an unused patch of ground that's the perfect site for a football pitch. Nearby, an old car hidden intact under bulldozed building makes a brilliant den. But in this city there's constant danger, even for schoolboys. And when Israeli soldiers find Karim outside during the next curfew, it seems impossible that he will survive."

Excellent novel about the Gaza Strip. Looks at how war & paranoia effect those caught up in it. Karim is 13 and lives in Palestine – his life is an endless series of curfews, hardship and trouble, as his family try to survive in a world that is full of conflict. He befriends Hopper, a boy from the refugee camp through their mutual love of soccer.p.106 –108 personal revenge. Hopper describes what happened to his brother

The book tells the story of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict from the Palestinian point of view, or more accurately from the point of view of an eleven-year-old boy, Karim, from a middle class family in Ramala.
A good attempt to have the other side of the story heard.
(Written with Sonia Nimr, a lecturer at Bir Zeit University in Palestine and a translator of children’s books.) ( )