Title: Delightful days in Marjella
First published: 1993
Description: Writing children’s book is serious business. Randa Hamwi Duwaji takes her efforts very seriously and produces a graceful and elegant compendium of short stories for children, the seriousness of the endeavor softened by the humor and the candor.  Neither of these elements suffers compromise by talking down to the young mind, and the honesty of the approach and the respect for the child make Delightful Days In Marjella unusually attractive.

Whether witnessing the pranks of the children, Fadi and Sana; twins in cheerful conspiracy, with Bassima their mother, and father Yusuf -a fine man; strong yet gentle- whether planning a picnic, a chase with Grandpa behind the wheel, or a surprise, the author projects the warmth and animation of a Mid-eastern family; their triumphs, their daily veins of happiness and the occasional rain-cloud that washes out hope and then replenishes it again with fresh excitements.  The town they live in, Marj-el-amal, literally the ‘ Meadow of Hope,’ reflects the family unit in a capsule and has a joyous cadence to it.  The stories bubble with enthusiasm, yet retain their intrinsic ambience, neither surrendering space to the western ethos nor making compromise in their cultural integrity.

Randa Hamwi Duwaji deserves commendation for the effort and for encouraging the resurgence of English language literature on a canvas of nativity, thereby avoiding wrong images and giving young Mid-Eastern children identity with the characters in traditional yet timeless values; a factor regrettably being eliminated by the instant culture-manufacturing industry that cans and dispatches factory-made literature.

I think children will have a wonderful time with this book and Randa Hamwi Duwaji is certain to be inspired to a repeat performance.



Bikram Vohra, Editor
Khaleej Times
Dubai
Subjects: Fiction, Juvenile fiction, Family life, Family, Families
Places: Middle East
LC classification: PZ7.H1893 De 1993