Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley door pickup 10am - 7pm 3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611

  • Open Daily: 10am - 10pm
    Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm

    3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
    612-822-4611

Open Daily: 10am - 10pm | Alley-side Pickup: 10am - 7pm
3038 Hennepin Ave Minneapolis, MN
612-822-4611
Hilwa's Gifts

Hilwa's Gifts

Semirdzhyan, Anait
Suleiman, Safa

Hardcover

FamilyGeneral Juvenile Fiction

Publisher Price: $18.99

ISBN10: 1536229423
ISBN13: 9781536229424
Publisher: Candlewick Press (MA)
Published: Apr 1 2025
Pages: 40
Weight: 1.10
Height: 0.60 Width: 10.00 Depth: 10.40
Language: English
Combining a centuries-old practice with the story about a Palestinian family and their relationship to the land make Hilwa's Gifts an absolute treasure. --Booklist (starred review)

A heartwarming picture-book debut brings a tradition many thousands of years old--harvesting and pressing olives into oil--vividly to life, showing how customs unite us across time and space.

Ali has arrived in Palestine for a visit just in time for the olive harvest. His grandfather, Seedo, and Hilwa--his favorite tree--greet him in the grove, where Seedo explains that Hilwa has many gifts to share. Other family members whack the trees' branches with sticks, singing Zaytoon, ya zaytoon while cousins clap and dance and happily pick up fallen olives. (Luckily, a gentle whack is all it takes for Hilwa's fruits to rain down!) The next day, at the olive press, Ali watches the drip of gold liquid into a can, another of Hilwa's gifts. Later, they picnic under the tree's branches with hot mint tea, pita, and delicious olive oil swirled on hummus. Tradition is the greatest gift of all: the family gathering--generation after generation--to celebrate a bountiful harvest. Dynamic illustrations and a graceful text peppered with Arabic words, plus a glossary and author's note, make for an intimate picture-book debut about a child discovering his heritage.

Also in

General Juvenile Fiction

View All