Arthur A. Levine/Scholastic Press

for Samir and Yonatan by Daniella Carmi. Translated from the Hebrew by Yael Lotan

The book cover of "Samir and Yonatan" by Daniella Carmi features a stone wall with an opening the shape of a flying bird. In the opening, there is a winding path heading to the horizon. Samir and Yonatan are flying in the sky above the path, surrounded by stars and a comet.

About

Samir, a Palestinian boy, enters an Israeli hospital for surgery.  At first he is fearful and antagonistic, but he develops a bond with Yonatan, an Israeli youngster.  The relationship of the children in the ward grows as they face their own physical and emotional trials.  Carmi's lyrical text and Lotan's smooth translation leave readers with hopeful possibilities.

Awards Won

Title Year
batchelder-gold-watermark2-154x154.png Mildred L. Batchelder Award
This award, established in Mildred L. Batchelder's honor in 1966, is a citation awarded to an American publisher for a children's book considered to be the most outstanding of those books originally published in a foreign language in a foreign country, and subsequently translated into English and published in the United States.
 2001 - Winner(s)