The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (Young Readers’ Edition)
By Sandy Tolan
In 1967, twenty-five-year-old Palestinian refugee Bashir Khairi returned to the home in Ramla that his family had been forced to leave nineteen years earlier. There, he met Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a young Israeli woman whose family had fled Europe after the Holocaust and made the house their home.
Their encounter sparked an unlikely friendship that endured decades of conflict and challenged how each understood history, identity, and belonging. Adapted from the award-winning adult book and based on Sandy Tolan's extensive research and reporting, The Lemon Tree is a deeply personal story of two people seeking hope, transformation, and home.
Comments and review excerpts:
“Through broad sweeps of narrative going back and forward in time, Tolan's sensitively told, eminently fair-minded narrative closes with a return to that lemon tree and its promise of reconciliation. Humane and literate--and rather daring in suggesting that the future of the Middle East need not be violent.” ―Kirkus Reviews, starred review
“Moving, well-crafted . . . readers will experience one of the world's most stubborn conflicts firsthand.” ―Publishers Weekly, starred review
“[Tolan] sensitively describes the tough friendship between Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, the daughter of Romanian Jewish immigrants who settled in Ramla, and Palestinian Bashir Khairi, who in 1967 knocked on her door to look at the house his family lost when it was forced to flee in 1948 . . . Tolan uses the beloved backyard lemon tree to drive home the shared humanity of the successive inhabitants of one home.” ―LA Review of Books
“Tolan weaves together dramatically different perceptions of the conflict and its context and explains how the lemon tree grew to become a powerful symbol of home.” ―NPR.org
“A balanced presentation of the issues?. . . . puts a very human face on a centuries-old conundrum.” ―School Library Connection
"[A] compelling narrative. . . Tolan makes an incredibly complicated topic comprehensible, creating empathy and understanding for people on both sides of the conflict." ― School Library Journ
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The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East
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