LEARNING ABOUT OTHER CULTURES

The couple of books I've been reading are about young people in other countries. I find it fascinating to learn about the incredibly different ways people live. In fiction I traveled to Ecuador in Laura Resau's book The Queen of Water and followed the life of Virginia, an Andean native who was taken or given as a young child to be a servant for a mestizos, or Spanish-descended, family. Basically a slave, Virginia cooks, cleans, and cares for the children in this story based on a real person's experience. But Virginia has dreams of going to school, becoming a singing star, and living her own life, not as a servant or a poor Indian. Achieving her goal seems impossible, but she is very determined to make it happen.

In nonfiction I read a memoir by Ibtisam Barakat called Tasting the Sky, A Palestinian Childhood. Ibtisam remembers her family fleeing their home as the Arab-Israeli Six-Day War breaks out. As refugees survival was difficult, but when they went back to their home in an Israeli-occupied area, life was even more difficult. Tucked in among the hard times are family fun and the school experiences. The memoir ends with a poem by the author celebrating the symbol that keep her going through these times.

Now I have moved on to India in Padma Venkatraman's fiction book Climbing the Stairs. Vidya, a member of a free-thinking Brahmin family, lives in British-occupied India during World War II. Her father has joined a freedom fighter group for Indian independence, but hard times lie ahead. when Vidya and her brother are forced to move in with their more traditional relatives. The clash of tradition with modern ways, even in 1941, is very intriguing.