A Hand Full of Stars: 2 [Hardcover]

Rafik Schami (Author), Rika Lessker (Translator)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 1990

A teenager who wants to be a journalist in a suppressed society describes to his diary his daily life in his hometown of Damascus, Syria.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This unusual novel, written in the form of a diary, tells the story of four years in the life of a Damascan boy. When he begins his account, the narrator spends his days playing with his friends and dreaming of becoming a journalist. Like many American boys, the diarist worries about his schoolwork and his girlfriend, but he must also cope with difficulties unfamiliar to his American contemporaries. Military coups are frequent occurrences and many of the neighborhood men have been sent to jail on the slimmest of pretexts. Taken out of school to work in his father's bakery, the boy finds another way to pursue his ambition by starting an underground newspaper. This multifaceted work is at once a glimpse into a different culture, a plea for the right to free speech and a highly readable tale, as full of fun as it is of melancholy. Ages 12-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 Up-- This well-told coming-of-age story uses a journal format to recount the 14th through 18th years in the unnamed narrator's life in contemporary Syria. Excelling at school, the boy is frustrated at having to work in his father's bakery. Feeding his intellectual hunger are Uncle Salim, a beloved, grandfatherly neighbor whose tales instruct, comfort, and entertain; and Habib, a wasted but honorable journalist. Friends Mahmud and Josef, girlfriend Nadia, and an interesting cast of minor characters provide important insights into the narrator's maturation. His love for Nadia grows from meaningful glances to sexual involvement. His dream of becoming a journalist blossoms into the daring undertaking of publishing an underground newspaper despite the very real dangers posed by the government. The ending will be perceived as upbeat by most adolescent readers--Habib will be released from jail, and the protagonist will marry Nadia, grow closer to his father, become a famous and respected journalist, etc. Other, unhappier futures, are perhaps more plausible. The translation lends an appealing accent to the voices, an exotic air to the settings. As Walter Dean Myers' early books portrayed Harlem as just another neighborhood in which to grow up, this book shows Damascus to be a place where teen readers can identify with characters and situations beyond their direct experience. Events slowly build the narrator's social and political understanding about government and police corruption, and he makes his own ethical choices. Emphasizing the power of the individual and of the written word, this book pushes the subject of censorship way beyond the usual YA problems with principals and graduation to matters of life and death. --Joel Shoemaker, Tilford Middle School, Vinton, IA
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 12 and up
  
• Hardcover: 20 pages
• Publisher: Dutton Juvenile (March 22, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0525445358
• ISBN-13: 978-0525445357
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,310,723 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learn about the beauty of Damascus, April 27, 2003

By 

Selim Jochim (Innsbruck, Austria) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hand Full of Stars (Library Binding)

Written in the form of a boy's diary, this book lets you live with it's characters for a while. It describes life in the ancient Arab city of Damascus in a very beautiful and emotional way. The main message of this book is a call for Freedom of Speech, but it is not political. I read the book for the first time in German in the late 1980's and now during the war on Iraq (2003) I came back to it and it helped me a lot to make up my own mind about the conflict. This book is not only suited for teenagers, it is also quite exciting to read for adults!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars well written and compelling, July 27, 2004

By 

A book lover - See all my reviews

This review is from: Hand Full of Stars (Library Binding)

This is extremely well-written, and does not seem to suffer for being a translated work. The characters are fully-formed, interesting people, and the story is very compelling. I also enjoyed the journal format, as it keeps the story moving well. This book paints a very vivid picture of life in modern-day Damascus.

5.0 out of 5 stars A HAND FULL OF STARS, August 26, 2005

By 

Drama/English teacher "RD" (Orlando, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Hand Full of Stars (Paperback)

A great introduction to a foreign culture (and I don't mean the tourist sites), I enjoyed this "journal" as it slowly and surely revealed its "author" as a growing teenager who, no doubt, will become a journalist/writer as he gets older.

Full of wisdom, humor and realism, I recommend this book for high school students; I believe that many middle school students will feel that in the first half of the book "nothing happens" and the references to a romantic relationship may make some parents nervous.

Nevertheless, to see a writer grow subtly over time is a pleasure. A HAND FULL OF STARS is relevant to students of literature in any country.