EVERYTHING GROWS IN JIDDO'S GARDEN

A child forges a connection to a far-off homeland.

Looking through an old photo album, the young protagonist gazes at an image of the family’s home in Palestine. Though the child has never been there, “I can taste its sweetness in my Jiddo’s rows of green.” Jiddo (Grandfather) grows sour plums, plump tomatoes, and crunchy cucumbers, as well as figs from a tree he raised—his favorite taste of home. Jiddo’s father taught him to grow food and care for the land—a tradition that goes back generations. Like many other Palestinian families, Jiddo and his loved ones were forced to leave their home. “Our land was taken from us,” he says. “Our family had to flee.” But Palestine stays rooted in his heart, and as the family tends to the garden, Jiddo nurses the dream that one day they’ll return. Expressed in simple, child-friendly prose, the story explores themes of belonging, forced displacement, and the deep connection that many Palestinians have to the land and to the food they grow on it. Ghanameh’s verdant illustrations feature expressive characters and traditional Palestinian symbols of hope and solidarity such as strawberries, watermelon, and keys. In an author’s note, Matari explains that her book was inspired by her own grandfather, who in 1948 was expelled during the Nakba and eventually relocated to Jordan.

A poignant tale that voices the hopes and heartaches of many diasporic Palestinians.