Hilwa's Gifts
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
A heartwarming picture-book debut brings a tradition many thousands of years old—harvesting and pressing olives into oil—vividly to life, showing how customs unite us across time and space. Ali has arrived in Palestine for a visit just in time for the olive harvest. His grandfather, Seedo, and Hilwa—his favorite tree—greet him in the grove, where Seedo explains that Hilwa has many gifts to share. Other family members whack the trees’ branches with sticks, singing “Zaytoon, ya zaytoon” while cousins clap and dance and happily pick up fallen olives. (Luckily, a gentle whack is all it takes for Hilwa’s fruits to rain down!) The next day, at the olive press, Ali watches the drip of gold liquid into a can, another of Hilwa’s gifts. Later, they picnic under the tree’s branches with hot mint tea, pita, and delicious olive oil swirled on hummus. Tradition is the greatest gift of all: the family gathering—generation after generation—to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Dynamic illustrations and a graceful text peppered with Arabic words, plus a glossary and author’s note, make for an intimate picture-book debut about a child discovering his heritage.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Harvest season deepens feelings of connection in a work that highlights olive trees' enduring role in Palestinian culture. When Ali's family visit to Palestine coincides with the event, the boy follows his grandfather, Seedo, into the family's olive grove and heads straight for Hilwa—"the tree Seedo planted with his grandfather." Climbing Hilwa, Ali observes his grandmother, Sitty, whacking the branches of another tree and singing as olives fall. Semirdzhyan's digital illustrations portray a lush landscape bustling with activity as relations, portrayed in fluid lines, harvest olives into patched woven baskets, and Ali learns about all that the yield provides. A variety of framing choices keep the visual pacing lively, leading to an intergenerational family picnic that, amid the bounty, proves "the greatest gift." A glossary and an author's note conclude. Ages 3–7.
