dmoreira

I love books about other countries and especially books about how people survive hardship. This book was about a boy living in Morocco during a famine (as told by the boy, now a man, to his daughter who believes she can't wait until dinner is ready to eat). As the family was running out of food, they sold their cow and then the boy's father went into the mountains to the next valley to look for work. Each day, the boy's mother gave him less and less bread to eat. One day he told her he couldn't possibly eat it without just a tiny bit of butter. She told him to go outside and wait for the butter man. The butter man never did arrive at on the road outside their home, but as he watched and nibbled on his bread, his mind was taken off of his extreme hunger. One day as he waits, he sees his father coming home. The family feasts on a meal that night that would be like an everyday meal for us. I liked the inclusion of words from either Arabic or Berber in this book, the talk of the food they ate, clothes they wore etc. The author's note at the end enlightened even further on culture, surroundings, language etc.

2022-11-14 14:15