August 1, 2020
Young People's Poet Laureate Nye explores childhood, conflict, and connectivity through over 100 of her poems, both new and classic. In the opening section, "The Holy Land of Childhood," she draws from her childhood and those of others, often speaking from the child's perspective, striking notes of loneliness, fear, and playfulness. Writing was her refuge from desperately boring early readers while a school assignment to write from the perspective of a kitchen implement turned her into "a sweet sifter in time." Sad vignettes of her childhood home sit alongside humorous memories. Personal images of war, displacement, and loss pepper the second section, "The Holy Land That Isn't," in which Nye focuses on her Palestinian immigrant father's loss of his Jerusalem home, crystallized in his longing for the figs of his childhood. In a poem dedicated to the great Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai, she pleads for peace for "every ancient space" and, in another, observes "red poppies sleep beneath / dirt and stones" beside the homes of fearful Arab and Jewish children living only "one mile apart." The final section, "People Are the Only Holy Land," stresses similarities between diverse peoples, invoking a vision of a world where "it is only kindness that makes sense anymore." L�pez's evocative art perfectly captures and enhances the mood of dreaming and yearning. Emotionally resonant and stirring, this is a must-have title. Striking use of everyday images and timely themes makes this free verse collection meaningful, memorable, and accessible. (afterword, notes on poems) (Poetry. 8-12)
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Starred review from September 1, 2020
Gr 3-6-Nye offers a brilliant collection of poems about the essence of human connection. The book is divided into three parts: "The Holy Land of Childhood," "The Holy Land that Isn't," and "People Are the Only Holy Land." She weaves her personal experiences into portraits of joy, pain, fear, and love. The poems range from a few stanzas to free verse stories that span several pages. Some poems will appeal to small children; some will engage teachers, teens, adults, and older readers. Nye writes about her Palestinian heritage with honesty and reverence, sparking conversations on acceptance, war, truth, and humanity. Readers will laugh, smile, cry, think, wonder, and (hopefully) change for the better. The final poem, "Slim Thoughts," wonderfully addresses her writing process. Nye's notes at the end of the work provide valuable insight into her sources of inspiration, as does the introduction. VERDICT A spectacular book of poetry for all collections. An essential purchase.-Lia Carruthers, Gill St. Bernard's Sch., Gladstone, NJ
Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
January 1, 2021
A substantial volume of poems by Nye, the Palestinian American poet and current Young People's Poet Laureate, is a pleasure on many fronts. This compilation, which includes new poems and others from her past collections (including some originally for adults), is loosely divided into three sections, "The Holy Land of Childhood," "The Holy Land That Isn't," and "People Are the Only Holy Land." Having so many of Nye's poems all bumping up against one another reminds us of her particular themes and her deceptively quotidian subjects -- meals, family anecdotes, birdwatching, highway signs, relocation, mint tea, coincidences, lost and neglected objects, hope. The poems are sometimes funny but never reductive; and they keep the reader off-balance. We all know about the prohibitions of childhood, but who thinks of "Don't kiss the squirrel before you bury him"? The poems' style is conversational and spare of simile, the tone warm, welcoming, inclusive -- and occasionally angry. The poem "A Few Questions for Bashar Assad" begins benignly: "We're curious about your shoes." We're a few lines in before we catch the undercurrent of controlled fury. She tackles difficult subjects -- war, bereavement, Arab-Jewish relations, refugees -- but always with a resonant, stereo point of view: "Love means you breathe in two countries"; "Where we live in the world is never one place." When she asserts that "not everything is lost," she has earned her optimism through alert, original, empathetic observation. Lucky the reader who would have this collection on hand for visiting and revisiting. Sarah Ellis
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