Why read The Lemon Tree?

Book cover of The Lemon Tree

Book description

In 1967, a twenty-five-year-old refugee named Bashir Khairi traveled from the Palestinian hill town of Ramallah to Ramla, Israel, with a goal: to see the beloved stone house with the lemon tree in its backyard that he and his family had been forced to leave nineteen years earlier. When he…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Lemon Tree as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Nora Lester Murad

Author

I loved this book because it tells the entire history of the Palestinian-Israeli crisis through the real-life relationship between one Palestinian refugee and the Israeli woman who was born in the house he was expelled from. The young adult version, based on the adult book, is packed full of details, but all told with nuance from the perspectives of the people involved.

Written by a journalist, the book is easy to follow and interesting. Like in real life, some of the differences are resolved, but most aren’t, leaving the reader interested in learning more.

From Nora's list on children’s books featuring Palestine.