A children’s book that details the heritage of Palestine will be showcased in Bahrain later this month.
The Purple Bird, written by Bahrain-based Dr Samar Al Barhouthi, revolves around a fictional purple bird flying over the skies of Palestine.
The pages present beautiful illustrations and text, as the bird moves from one land to another to witness the arrival of the Canaanite Arabs to Palestine, their discoveries, trade and the building of the City of Jerusalem.
Dr Al Barhouthi, who is Palestinian-Jordanian, works as a political science professor at the Royal University for Women and was a columnist for a newspaper in Egypt.
“Two instances convinced me to write about history for children,” she told the GDN.
“Many children, one of them being the daughter of a friend of a friend, asked me about books for Palestine, she is Egyptian, and I thought it would be available in the market but I couldn’t find anything.
“I asked myself why we haven’t written anything for children about our (country’s) story.
“I looked in Egypt, Jordan and Bahrain for stories, but I couldn’t find anything available in the market.
“When I used to write for a newspaper, people said I wrote in a cinematic way, so I thought why not write fiction and reality so the story is based on things that are documented but in a fictional way.”
The Purple Bird targets children aged between eight and 14 and is only available in Arabic, but is currently being translated into English.
It took Dr Al Barhouthi eight years to bring her book to print as she was determined to make it as detailed as possible, while staying true to the target audience.
She worked with an illustrator based in the Netherlands named Tariq Attrisi to bring the pages to life.
“So many people advised me at the beginning to make it online as now children focus on social media, but I said no,” she recounted.
“I insisted to have it on paper so children will hold the book and enjoy the meaning of the book itself.
“The illustrations are very thorough as it tells the story of the heritage.”
The Purple Bird was published in March 2017 by the Arab Institute for Publishing and is Dr Al Barhouthi’s second book having first written about Bahraini women in sports in 2014.
She said that she was eager to continue on her writing path and release more books about life in the Middle East.
Dr Al Barhouthi will host a book signing session on October 20, from 4pm to 5pm, at Words Bookstore Café, where she will also read a 10-minute excerpt from her book.
Copies of The Purple Bird can be purchased from Words Bookstore Café.