FernFolio

Living with her family in Gaza City, eleven year-old Malaak knows the family stories about their lives in Jerusalem and in Palestine before 1948. Loss of their lands following the creation of the state of Israel and the presence of ever more numerous Jewish settlers in Gaza leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of every Palestinian. However Malaak’s parents are gentle people whose faith in God helps them to transcend the water shortages and power cuts and curfews and Israeli soldiers in the streets that have become a regular part of life since the intifada started.
But, with her father’s death in a bomb explosion at a border check point, Malaak’s world begins to fall apart. She retreats to the roof of her family’s house and into herself, unable to speak to anyone but the bird she half tames with gifts of seeds. From her vantage point on the roof, Malaak listens to her mother and older sister, Hend, working in the house, below, and watches the comings and goings of her twelve year-old brother Hamid.
Though he has always been quick to spout the rhetoric of the rash and brave young shabab, his father’s death sets Hamid on the path to militant, and violent, opposition to Israeli rule. Malaak, who has always shared a close relationship with her brother, becomes his confident as he becomes an active participant in the barricades and demonstration, and is increasingly absent from home. Terrified that he will come to harm, Malaak takes to following Hamid when he goes out, hoping that she will be able to prevent the disaster that creeps inevitably nearer.
A Stone in My Hand explores the real and difficult issues of Palestinian refugees, and the growing sense of rage that accompanies hopelessness. Told through the eyes of Malaak, this book is evocative and simply told, yet complex and deeply moving. A must read for students from Grade 7, this book is sheer poetry.
FernFolio Editor