Sitti's Secrets by Naomi Shihab Nye, Nancy Carpenter (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

When Sitti, an American girl, goes to visit her grandmother in her small Middle Eastern village on the other side of the world, they don't need words to understand each other's heart. "A thoughtful, loving affirmation of the bonds that transcend language barriers, time zones, and national borders."--School Library Journal. Full color.

Children's Literature

The gulf between Mona and her Palestinian grandmother, Sitti, is extensive. They don't speak the same language, eat the same foods, or wear the same clothes, and their countries are far apart. The evocative illustrations reinforce these differences. But the really important parts of life-love and sharing-overcome these barriers of language, culture, and distance. Mona grows to love her grandmother. When she returns home, she writes a letter about her grandmother to the President of the United States and asks for peace.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-When Mona travels from her home in the U.S. to visit her grandmother's small Palestinian village on the West Bank, she must rely on her father to translate at first, but soon she and Sitti are communicating perfectly. With verve and a childlike sense of wonder, Mona relates some of the sights, sounds, and tastes she is introduced to as well as ``the secrets'' she learns from spending time in the wise, elderly woman's company. Upon her return home, Mona writes to the president describing the woman and expressing her concerns about the situation in her homeland. ``I vote for peace. My grandmother votes with me.'' says Mona. The simple, poetic text is accompanied by exquisitely rendered mixed-medium paintings. They are suffused with the light and colors of the desert, and incorporate subtle and evocative collage touches. A story about connections that serves as a thoughtful, loving affirmation of the bonds that transcend language barriers, time zones, and national borders.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3-A young American girl meets her Palestinian grandmother face to face, and the two forge a bond that sustains them from their opposite sides of the world. Wonderful collages-at once ethereal and solid, exotic and familiar-deftly serve the poetic text. (June, 1994)

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