The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East [Hardcover]

Naomi Shihab Nye (Compiler)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1998

In an unparalleled collection, honored anthologist Naomi Shihab Nye brings together the work of over 120 poets and artists from 19 countries in the Middle East. In turn compelling, lyrical, tragic and humorous, this rich anthology opens the door to the Middle East and beckons readers to explore our common ground. Full-color illustrations.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Poetry is a river / And solitude a bridge. / Through writing / We cross it, / Through reading / We Return." So writes Lebanese poet Kaissar Afif in Naomi Shihab Nye's aesthetically stunning anthology of poetry and paintings from the Middle East, The Space Between Our Footsteps. As Afif's poem beckons, so does Nye, inviting readers into a lush, vivid world in which more than 100 poets from 19 different Middle Eastern countries share their innermost feelings about place, family, war, and peace, scattered amid paintings reflecting pain, hope, and joy with rich, bold strokes.

Palestinian American poet, novelist, and anthologist Nye has made a name for herself with critically acclaimed books such as the autobiographical novel Habibi and the striking poetry collections This Same Sky and I Feel a Little Jumpy Around You. This anthology rivals her previous work in both beauty and inspiration, and was nominated by the Young Adult Library Services Association as one of 1998's Best Books for Young Adults.

But this collection is not for teens only. The personal yet universal sentiments expressed in these poems and paintings will pierce hearts of all ages--as in Sharif S. Elmusa's "But I Heard the Drops": "My father had a reservoir / of tears. / They trickled down / unseen. / But I heard the drops / drip/from his voice / like drops / from a loosened tap. / For thirty years I heard them." Notes on the contributors round out the collection and help bring footsteps a world apart just a little closer together. --Brangien Davis

From School Library Journal

Grade 7 UpAOver 100 poets and artists from 19 countries are gathered in this feast of poetry and paintings. The anthology is a potluck of Middle Eastern tastes, and every dish is full of flavorful surprises. Thirty-nine paintings, done in a rich assortment of styles and mediums, from figurative to folk art, abstract to collage, are scattered throughout. The artwork enhances, but in no way outshines the poetry contained within these pages. Good poetry evokes emotion and brings feelings and images to light; this collection exquisitely touches the senses through well-crafted language in glimpses of bright sun, watermelons, a rose on an uncle's lapel, a grandfather's footsteps, and heartbreaking images of children maimed by revolution. Nye's respect and admiration for Middle Eastern culture, and for poetry, come through in the expertly chosen, artistically arranged entries. Many of the selections have been translated into English for this compilation, and the poets' lyrical voices have been retained. The universality of topicsAchildhood, nature, love, homeland, war, family, schoolAgives insight into a culture and proves that differences are only skin deep. Students of the region and of poetry will be pleasurably served by this volume that includes a comprehensive introduction, a map, and short biographies of the contributors.AAngela J. Reynolds, West Slope Community Library, Portland, OR
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing; First Edition edition (April 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0689812337
• ISBN-13: 978-0689812330
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 8.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #970,768 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and sensitive collection not just for children, December 8, 1998

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East (Hardcover)

This book has room in its heart for the passions and longings of writers from all of the Middle East. It offers readers, in beautiful poetry, the longings for place, for a loved past, for a more secure future, felt by Lebanese, Syrians, Israelis, Turks, Palestinians, Iraqis, Saudis, Egyptians, and more. Meticulously designed and printed, it offers art from across the Middle East that illuminates these poems and helps us learn with our children important lessons about that part of the world.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Looking at the space between our footsteps, May 5, 2001

By 

david stephens (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East (Hardcover)

This is a wonderful book. It is full of the imagery and feelings that in turn, delight, amuse and sadden. Naomi Nye has compiled a collection of writers from various countries within the Middle East. Although the writers come from many countries and competing nationalities, there is a common commitment to peace. Since the poems are translated,rather than presented in the original languages, the reader does not have the benefit of the natural rhythms of the languages the poems were taken from. What the translations lack in terms of rhyme is more than made up by the poets' use of Metaphor. One poet talks about "drinking in the melancholy of morning". Another talks about being passed by trains with eyes looking back at you. The language is effective and persuasive. Many of the poems deal with loss. They deal with the loss of loved ones, the loss of time, the loss of relationships, but more importantly, they deal with the loss of basic human rights and something as basic as a homeland. The book has many fine paintings that supplement the text. They are all very well done and add to the feeling of the book. The reader of this book will not only read, but will also have an experience. All the senses except hearing will be involved. I recommend this book to anyone, particularly to Young Adults.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An exquisite book, and not just for kids., July 6, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East (Hardcover)

I bought this book from amazon.com, fell in love with it & wrote the following review for The Capital Times, Madison WI's afternoon newspaper:

That this exquisitely beautiful, painfully direct and ultimately joyful book, "The Space Between Our Footsteps,'' is published under the imprint of Simon & Schuster's Books for Young Readers is an example of how badly we adults need to learn the lessons we try to teach our children.

The poems and paintings of more than 100 writers and artists from 19 countries are loosely grouped by theme,without a condescending preface or explanations of how to feel when we read or view them...This book is an ideal gift for anyone old enough to read "The Diary of Anne Frank,'' and to know that just as, for Anne, life went on as war went on, so it does today. It is for anyone who thinks he or she understands the conflicts in the Middle East, and for anyone whose life needs a sudden rush of beauty.

(Lin Seagren teaches in Stoughton WI and for the UW-Extension.)