Deborah Ellis: Three Wishes

How do you promote the learning of history and social studies to young people? How do you broaden the thinking of a young person to look beyond their own borders to see parts of the world that may be very different from their own? Publish books that they can relate to...........stories of real people their own age telling their stories and sharing their perspective and provide the opportunity to access them.

Of all the lessons my daughter has been taught this year, the most profoundly altering lesson came from reading a book by Deborah Ellis entitled Parvana's Journey. It is a story about a girl living and trying to survive in worn torn Afghanistan, part of a trilogy. Ellis, who has tapped into the non-fiction genre for the young set, has lit a fire under her readers that has prompted discussions and questions and most importantly awareness of what is happening on the other side of the world. She has also indirectly provided some insight and answers as to why Canadians have troops stationed there. Kudos to Ellis!

Her lastest attempt at putting a face on conflict and sharing a portal that links young North American readers to the complications of war in another country is entitled: Three Wishes. In it, she provides a collection of accounts from youth ages 11-18 who describe how the war in the Middle East has affected their lives.

The Canadian Jewish congress is making an attempt in Ontario to try to ban the book...............there are fears that the book may promote the desire to become a suicide bomber.......................WHAT?

From a review:

Ellis begins by citing disturbing statistics: "In World War I, 15 percent of all causalities were civilians. In World War II, 50 percent of all causalities were civilians. In 2004, 90 percent of causalities in war are civilians." Between September 29, 2000 and March 7, 2003, 3,399 died in this Middle East conflict, and Ellis lists six pages of the names and ages of 429 victims under the age of 18. A balanced historical Introduction provides background for the interviews in which children talk about "how the choices other people have made have affected their lives." Ellis alternates Israeli and Palestinian voices and prefaces each of the accounts by an informative discussion of pertinent issues and a profile of the interviewee and his/her experiences.

Fear permeates most accounts; the Palestinian children fear the Israeli soldiers while the Israeli children fear Palestinian suicide bombers. Hakim, 12, speaking from his hospital bed after "Israeli soldiers . . . shot up both [his] legs" insists he will "go back to fighting the Israelis." Twelve-year-old Salaam "would like to become a martyr" like her suicide bomber sister, explaining that "soldiers throw gas bombs, shoot at children, destroy houses, arrest people . . . they just want to kill us all." Elisheva, 18, who has lost friends to suicide bomb attacks, feels "a lot of anger toward the Palestinians," while Yibanel,18, rages, "Palestinians murdered my friends" and believes that when "a terrorist comes out of a village, we should go hurt the whole village."

Among the voices of anger, despair, fear and hatred, however, are more moderate whispers of hope and humanity like those of Asif, 15, who wants to be "a moral voice" during his compulsory military service for Israel. The final interview is with Mai, 18, who attends a Jerusalem vigil "against war and injustice" and organizes a group for young people to talk about armies and war because she believes that protest "helps to influence the way people think."

I strongly oppose book banning. I strongly oppose the act of mis-interpreting something for the benefit of one's cause. In fact, if someone bans a book, I want to read it. Luckily I'm not alone. Just the act of throwing the book into a myriad of controversy has guaranteed that people who may not have heard about the author and her stories will be seeking it out to see what all the fuss is about.

See you in the Young Readers section at Chapters...................