A Little Piece of Ground

Description

12-year-old Karim Aboudi and his family are trapped in their Ramallah home by a strict curfew. Israeli tanks control the city in response to a Palestinian suicide bombing.

Karim longs to play football with his mates – being stuck inside with his teenage brother and fearful parents is driving him crazy. When the curfew ends, he and his friend discover an unused patch of ground that’s the perfect site for a football pitch. Nearby, an old car hidden intact under bulldozed buildings makes a brilliant den. But in this city there’s constant danger, even for schoolboys. And when Israeli soldiers find Karim outside during the next curfew it seems impossible that he will survive . . .

A Little Piece of Ground is an exciting, enlightening and important story that brings to life the reality of events reported daily in the news, and will help young readers understand more about one of the worst conflicts affecting our world today.

‘A fine book, and a daring book’ Michael Morpurgo

‘This book must go down as a brave, serious and successful attempt to reach out and have this story heard’ Michael Rosen, Books for Keeps

‘A Little Piece of Ground has the same rights as any other book to be on the shelves of shops and libraries. I also think that by reading books like this, and acknowledging other points of view, it will be easier for both sides to understand each other’ Jewish Chronicle

(14-year-old reader.)

Author Information

Elizabeth Laird is the author of many award-winning children’s novels. Kiss the Dust, about the experience of the Kurds, won the UK Children’s Book Award. Jake’s Tower, Red Sky in the Morning and Secret Friends were all nominated for the Carnegie Medal. She knows the Middle East well, and lived in Lebanon during the war. Her husband has written a history of the Arab-Israeli conflict. She has collaborated with Sonia Nimr, a Palestinian writer and university lecturer who lives with her family in Ramallah, to research and write A Little Piece of Ground.