All about families and the love shared between them regardless of how far apart they live.

Beautiful story.

Goodreads Review:
A beautiful picture book about family and love across distance.

Mona’s grandmother, her Sitti, lives in a small Palestinian village on the other side of the earth. Once, Mona went to visit her.

The couldn’t speak each other’s language, so they made up their own. They learned about each other’s worlds, and they discovered each other’s secrets. Then it was time for Mona to go back home, back to the other side of the earth. But even though there were millions of miles and millions of people between them, they remained true neighbors forever.

This story's main idea was about family and togetherness. Mona's grandmother lived all the way across the world and she had never met her before, but as soon as she met her she learned about her culture and loved her grandmother anyway. I think it is an important lesson for students to learn, that just because someone is different, does not make them any better or worse. My favorite part of this book is towards the end Mona writes a letter to the President of the United States where she discusses how if everyone could meet her Sitta, they would all love her. I think this is a very powerful part as it shows the innocence of a child trying to explain that just because her grandmother looks a certain way, doesn't make her an enemy. ( )

I thought this was a beautifully written and illustrated book, and I liked it a lot. The illustrations brought the characters to life and made imagining them in real life and their experiences easy. The book was written in first person from the perspective of Nona the main character in the book who goes to visit her grandma (Sitti) in Palestine. The author does a good job of comparing and contrasting Palestine and the United States along with Nona's daily life and Sitti's daily life. The language in this book was very smooth and easy to follow making it a good choice for any student to read or have it be read to them by an adult or older kid. I think the main message in this book is that distance can not eliminate the love that someone has for someone else and that even across the world people are still people and we're all the same on the inside. This was a beautiful story and I think it's a good way for children to learn about a different culture in a different part of the world. ( )

I liked this book for many different reasons. The characters of this book were very believable and well-developed. The little girl was made to be adventurous and loving towards her family. The little girl’s grandmother, Sitti is shown to be the grandmother who took care of her grandchildren and established many traditions in the family. For example, Sitti always took the laundry down at night to see the woman carrying water on their heads. Sitti explained to the young girl that she once had to carry water from the river on her head. The illustrations of this story were beautifully drawn. The illustrator captured the setting and many details in the story. She also used a lot of color. This make the story entertaining to read. This Contemporary Realistic Fiction story provided hope and had many believable events. Many children have family that are across the country and do not get to visit their relatives often. I would definitely share this book in my future classroom.