Snow in Jerusalem is written by Deborah da Costa and illustrated by Cornelius VanWright and Ying-Hwa Hu. It is about two boys from totally different cultures who are brought together through a street cat. One of the boys, Avi is Jewish while the other boy, Hamudi is Arab. Because of the conflict between the Jews and the Arabs in Jerusalem, these two boys live in separate parts of town. This random white cat goes to each boy daily to be fed, making them both believe that they are sole caretakers of the cat. One day when Avi decides to follow the cat after it's feeding, he realizes that the cat also eats from Hamudi. This causes a quarrel between the two boys, until they realize that a very odd thing is happening; its snowing in Jerusalem! After they realize the rarity that is occuring, they also realize that the cat is running away from them. As they go through the city chasing this cat they pass through several religious quarters. They finally stumble on the cat and are surprised to see that she has a litter as well. After quarreling over who should keep the kittens they decide to split the litter and let the cat (which they named Snow) go between the two of them as she had been doing. The story incorporates a lot of Hebrew and Arabic words, as well as pictures from the quarters of both cultures. It also allows two boys from different cultures, whose interaction is about as rare as snow in Jerusalem to occur. They were able to compromise and share, which was something that would be unheard of between a Jew and an Arab in Jerusalem. This book helps young readers to promote acceptance. Although some relationships are unlikely, you never know what can evolve if you'd just give it a try. You don't have to base friends and enemies off stereotypes or the battles of others within your culture, but rather accept people for their personalities and develop relationships because of that.
Book Citation:
da Costa, Deborah. Snow in Jerusalem. Morton Grove, IL: Albert Whitman & Company, 2001.
Image Citation:
Deborah da Costa for Kids. 2007. Deborah da Costa. 1 Dec 2008. <www.deborahdacosta.com/
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