Ida in the Middle Author Talk at WESPAC

Tuesday, July 9th at 6:30pm at WESPAC – 77 Tarrytown Rd, Suite 2W in White Plains, NY 10607.

 

Nora Lester Murad is a writer, educator, and activist. She co-authored Rest in My Shade: A Poem About Roots, and edited I Found Myself in Palestine: Stories of Love and Renewal From Around the Globe. From a Jewish American family, Nora moved from California to study in the Middle East. She married a Muslim Palestinian, and raised three daughters in the West Bank and in the US. She posts her writing at www.noralestermurad.com.  She is delighted to travel to WESPAC on Tuesday, July 9th at 6:30pm to talk about her latest book, “Ida in the Middle” and the topic of the censorship of Palestinians in children’s literature.

 

“Ida in the Middle” has been honored four times:

• Winner of the 2023 Arab American Book Award
• Winner of the 2024 Middle East Book Award
• Finalist for the 2024 Jane Addams Peace Association Children’s Book Award 
• 2023 Skipping Stones Honor Award Selection

About the book:

Ida, a Palestinian-American girl, eats a magic olive that takes her to the life she might have had in her parents’ village near Jerusalem. An important coming of age story that explores identity, place, voice, and belonging.

Every time violence erupts in the Middle East, Ida knows what’s coming next. Some of her classmates treat her like it’s all her fault—just for being Palestinian! In eighth grade, Ida is forced to move to a different school. But people still treat her like she’ll never fit in. Ida wishes she could disappear. One day, dreading a final class project, Ida hunts for food. She discovers a jar of olives that came from a beloved aunt in her family’s village near Jerusalem. Ida eats one and finds herself there—as if her parents had never left Palestine! Things are different in this other reality—harder in many ways, but also strangely familiar and comforting. Now she has to make some tough choices. Which Ida would she rather be? How can she find her place?

Ida’s dilemma becomes more frightening as the day approaches when Israeli bulldozers are coming to demolish another home in her family’s village…

More information:
For more resources related to Ida in the Middle, check out www.IdaInTheMiddle.com, which includes an extensive library of curated tools teachers can use to bring Palestine into the classroom. Nora’s blog is at www.NoraLesterMurad.com.