Where the Streets Had a Name by Randa Abdel-Fattah

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Abdel-Fattah, Randa Where the Streets Had a Name, 304 p. Scholastic Press, November 2010.  $17.99.  Violence: PG.  Hayaat, 13, lives in Bethlehem and she is desperate to make her way into Jerusalem so that she can bring her grandmother just a bit of dirt from their former ancestral home.  While only a few miles separate the two cities, it might as well be an ocean – if Hayaat persists, her life could be in danger.  With the help of her best friend Samy, she will take the plunge and dare to make the impossible possible.  Abdel-Fattah’s brilliant novel brings the realities of life in Israel into unequivocal focus.  Once you have read this book, you cannot say that you are ignorant ever again.  EL, MS, HS – ESSENTIAL. Cindy, Library Teacher