In 1998, Naomi Shihab Nye brought the voices of men and women from 19 Middle Eastern countries to young adult readers in the United States in The Space Between Our Footsteps: Poems and Paintings from the Middle East (Simon & Schuster). The Flag of Childhood is a gathering of selected poems from that volume published in response to the events of September 11, 2001. In her introduction, Nye writes that people keep saying “everything has changed.” She responds: “I would like to think that nothing has changed...our need to know one another and to care about other people’s lives...our ability to grow in our perceptions, to know more than we used to know, to empathize with distant situations and sorrows and joys...the power of words to convey truths, across miles and water and time.” Over 50 poems in this paperback collection do indeed convey truths, imbedded in the perspectives of the individual writers whose unique experiences translate into feelings older children, teens, and adults can surely all recognize in one way or another: hopes, dreams, anger, fear, desire, and the need for dignity. These writers are not just citizens of nations far away, but citizens of the world we all share. Nye writes: “We must remember that the one flag we all share is the beautiful flag of childhood that flies with hope in every country.” (Age 11 and older)

A stirring anthology of sixty poems from the Middle East selected by honored anthologist, writer, and editor Naomi Shihab Nye.

This beautiful collection of eloquent poems from Palestine, Israel, Egypt, Iraq, and elsewhere open windows into the hearts and souls of people we usually meet only on the nightly news. What we see when we look through these windows is the love of family, friends, and for the Earth, the daily occurrences of life that touch us forever, the longing for a sense of place. What we learn is that beneath the veil of stereotypes, our human connections are stronger than our cultural differences.