Jordan's Queen Rania rejects offer to publish Hebrew edition of her children's book

[shira]

Queen Rania of Jordan has turned down several offers to publish a Hebrew version of a children's book she recently wrote. The book, which was published in the United States by Hyperion under the title "The Sandwich Swap" for children between 4 and 8 years old, was co-written with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa.

During a promotional campaign for the book, the queen described it as the story of two girls who let the food they bring to school get in the way of their friendship. They disparage each other's food based on their own cultural preconceptions. The two main characters, Lily and Salma, have a lot in common, but not when it comes to their sandwiches: Lily prefers the all-American peanut butter and jelly, while Salma sticks to pita and hummus.

<snip>

The queen was born into a family of Palestinian origin, and she studied in the multicultural atmosphere of an English-speaking school in Kuwait. In an interview she gave after the book was published, she said the story had been influenced by her own childhood, and that her own mother in fact sent her to school with hummus and pita sandwiches. Queen Rania also described her shock the first time she saw a classmate eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Since 2007, Queen Rania has been working with UNICEF on child welfare issues and as honorary chairwoman of the UN's effort to promote the education of girls.

more...
http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/jordan-s-queen-rania-rejects-offer-to-publish-hebrew-edition-of-her-children-s-book-1.301791

[CBGLuthier]

1. Jordanian Hummus Sucks

At least the way my sister-in-law made it. Nasty runny stuff.

[sui generis]

3. American peanut butter sucks

nasty brown peanut flavored lard

:evilgrin:

[shaayecanaan]

4. I don't mind the taste of American peanut butter...

but you get the feeling that all those trans fats are doing some damage in there somewhere.

[Igel]

5. Could be worse.

Could be lard. (Ate at a "traditional" Polish restaurant in Lodz once, at the suggestion who said it had really, really good food--"they make their own lard." Garlic or traditional.)

Then there was the movie I watched yesterday, "Ballad of a Soldier." 1960 or so. Russian. At once point the valiant soldier is hitching a ride on a train and finds that he's sharing his hay car with a girl. He asks if she's hungry. "Here, have some of this. It's salo. It's really good." Then it shows her eating it, her face radiant as she savors every last bit. The subtitles insisted on "salo" instead of translating it as "lard".

Nonetheless, I like peanut butter. I just insist on making my own. Much tastier that way.

[eilen]

2. I worked a Jordanian wedding once

It was mesmerizing.

[ConsAreLiars]

6. I attended a Greek wedding

on one of the Aegean Islands. One of the Cyclades group, Not Delos, maybe Mykonos or Paros or Naxos, not Santorini. Walking past, they insisted we join the celebration. Similar things happened in a remote town in India when the Maharajah was having some sort of celebratory feast. Yummy. And sweet fun. And similar things in all the widely varied lands and cultures I've experienced. And reminders that people everywhere are generous and sharing by nature.

[shaayecanaan]

7. They served enormous crags of fresh helva with pistachios at the last wedding I went to...

everyone got a big old bowl piled over with the stuff. It delivers a sugar hit incomparable to anything else devised by man, its like the freebase cocaine form of sugar. They should have had a bin for you to throw your pancreas in after you were done.

[ConsAreLiars]

8. Those who are so frightened of and so readily demonize "the other," here and everywhere,

who advocate blindly on both sides of every conflict, never gained the understandings that such travelings or encounters made real.

When hitching all across Europe and on into South Asia I encountered many from Europe who were just doing the usual trip. Never one from the western hemisphere.

This simple fact of life may explain a lot about the ignorant and naive demonizing seen so often in this forum (and everywhere else in the US). No experience, no facts, just propaganda swallowed blindly and automatically and unconsciously regurgitated on cue.

[shaayecanaan]

10. Well, Ive seen a few Canadians...

it must be said, not many North Americans though. Maybe it is a distance thing.

[Dick Dastardly]

11. It must be remembered that the US is huge and unlike most countries it has many destinations

internally. On top of that there are many destinations such as the Caribean, Mexico and Central and S America that are only a few hours plane ride from the US as well. I have been all over the world but usually only once or twice to Europeean and Asian destinations but have been multiple times to many quick and easy Western Hemisphere destinations such as 8 or 9 times to Mexico and a few of those to Cabo San Lucas.

[ConsAreLiars]

12. Distance is part of the answer, but there seems to be very different sets of expectations

regarding "education," broadly defined. I got the impression from many Europeans I crossed paths with. A young German while (at the insistence of the fisherman) wolfing down a wash pan filled with freshly caught shrimp at the edge of a Norwegian fjord, at hostels, while visiting Brits in a jail in Kabul.... I got the impression that some time after high school, maybe after some college, but before settling into a work career, starting a family and such, it was pretty much generally expected and common practice to sling on a backpack and go see/experience other parts of the world.

And the way they traveled was very different than the way most Americans I have known travel. They didn't book advance reservations and fly to star-rated hotels, go with a whole boat or busload of people like them on charter tours, stay in isolated resorts. They went on the ground, getting their food where everyone who lived there got theirs, among the people, not apart, remaking and changing their plans whenever they encountered a new choicepoint.

I had been to Europe before this, to pick up a BMW 1600 from the factory (then-wife got a couple grand inheritance -- the VW dealer said how about the BMW for a few bucks more?) and spent the summer traveling this way and that, camping when feasible. Pre-packaged tours appalled me even then, but we hit the tourist destinations in our own, unplanned ways.

But the real experience came when I was invited to join someone in Norway, and later to join another in Istanbul several weeks later. Hitched and camped and hosteled, not a single experience would have been enjoyed by any doing a packages, pre-planned trip, not one. One thing followed another, Hitching gave way to buses and 2nd class trains and hostels to cheapest hotels and occasional camping.

There is not one day of the 15 months I would trade for an all-expense paid round the world pre-planned cruise. (Well, there were some days when the E. coli in Kabul showed they were far tougher than those I carried. I'll trade those if I can sell the cruise on Ebay and donate the proceeds. Otherwise I'd prefer the E. coli to the cruise.)

The point of these ramblings is that my experience led me to believe that there is a large part of the culture of Western Europe that encouraged the view that experiencing, being a part of, the people of the larger human family, going to live among those with different languages, heritages, cultures, climates, habits, and all that, was a desirable and valuable educational thing. The Wander Year.

By contrast Americans seem to go to foreign destinations like going to Disneyland. They go to get some advertised "fun" in a highly insulated and protected artificial world that has nothing to do with the people of the land or their lives, apart from taking place on land taken from the native population.

I think this is at least one part of why the people of Europe and America have such different views on I/P. Just a fraction, not the whole of it.

[shaayecanaan]

13. True that...

the best travel is done when youre young, time-rich and somewhat cash-poor. Still, I know plenty of insular Europeans and plenty of cosmopolitan Americans. I suppose though Europe is a more cosmopolitan place.

[azurnoir]

9. Jordan Queen Rania never got offer to publish Hebrew translation of her book, say official sources/

Official Jordanian sources on Thursday denied a recent Haaretz report that Queen Rania had turned down several offers to publish a Hebrew version of a children's book she wrote.

Official Jordanian sources said that Rania had never received such an offer from Israeli publishers, adding that requests like these would have been sent directly to the U.S. publisher and not to the writer herself.

The book, which was published in April in the United States by Hyperion under the title "The Sandwich Swap" for children between 4 and 8 years old, was co-written with Kelly DiPucchio and illustrated by Tricia Tusa.

The sources stressed that Jordan was as committed as always to dialogue and tolerance, messages central to the story written by the queen.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/international/jordan-queen-rania-never-got-offer-to-publish-hebrew-translation-of-her-book-say-official-sources-1.302169

[oberliner]

14. Very sloppy reporting from Maya Sela

Did she even issue an apology? Her original article cited no source for her claim.