أذن سمراء ... أذن شقراء

by خالد جمعة

في هذه القصة , تعيش مجموعتان من القطط , القطط ذات اللون الفاتح و القطط السمراء , على جوانب مختلفة للنهر. و يتفقون أن قط أسود سوف يقود جميع القطط نصف العام بينما يقودها قط فاتح اللون لنصف العام. و لكن تندلع المعارك بين المجموعتين. و فجأة يولد قط رمادي و هو عاقل و كل القطط تحبه و يقررون أن يجعلوه قائدهم طول العام. ماذا سيفعل هذا القط يا ترى

Genres: Picture Books

22 pages

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

خالد جمعة.. شاعر وكاتب للأطفال، ويعمل الآن في وكالة الأنباء والمعلومات الفلسطينية [وفا].

نبذة عن الأعمال:
كتب الشعر والقصة القصيرة وقصص الأطفال، والمسرحية والأغنية، وترجمت بعض أعماله إلى الإنجليزية والفرنسية والألمانية والإسبانية ـ ساهم في تأسيس عدد من الفرق الفنية وعدد من المجلات ذات الطابع الأدبي.

الإصدارات:
الشعر
ـ كي لا تحبك الغجرية ـ شعر ـ بيروت 2012
ـ كما تتغير الخيول ـ شعر ـ الأردن ـ 2011، 2013
ـ هي عادة المدن ـ شعر 2009
ـ مازلت تشبه نفسك ـ شعر ـ 2004 ـ ديوان شعر لذلك ـ القاهرة 2000 ـ ديوان نصوص لا علاقة لها بالأمر [شعر] 1999
ـ ديوان شعر هكذا يبدأ الخليفة 1996 ـ ديوان رفح أبجدية مسافة وذاكرة 1992
قصص أطفال
ـ الأرنب الذي لم يعجبه اسمه ـ 2012 ـ ثلاث أرجل ـ 2012، ـ كتاب ناصح وسمسم ـ خمس قصص أطفال بالألمانية ـ النمسا ـ 2010 ـ المكواة السحرية ـ قصة أطفال ـ 2009، 2010 ـ زمزومة ترحل من البيت قصة أطفال ـ 2007 ـ الخراف لا تأكل القطط ـ قصة للأطفال 2006 ـ قصة أذن سوداء أذن شقراء 2002 ـ قصة الشبلان للأطفال 2001 ـ قصة دموع اللون الأصفر للأطفال 2001 ـ قصة السياق للأطفال 2001 ـ قصة الحفلة للأطفال 2000 ـ حديث الغابة "كليلة ودمنة للفتيان" 2000 ـ مجموعة قصصية لللأطفال قرية الحروف، 2000 ـ قصة للأطفال الماسورة الحزينة 1999 ـ قصة أطفال صفحات من يوميات جرثومة، 1996
تراث
تجميع وإعداد وتقديم كتاب عن التراث الشعبي بعنوان الأغاني الشعبية الفلسطينية في قطاع غزة وأغاني الصيادين 1998.

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

A group of black cats and a group of blonde cats coexist uneasily with one another in this picture-book from the Palestinian territories, with the black cats living on one side of a river, and the blonde cats on the other. They share power, with a black cat functioning as leader for half of the year, and a blonde one for the other half, but there are still many disputes. When a grey cat is born, making him the leader seems the solution to the problem, but unfortunately, the disputes persist. Finally the grey cat comes up with a solution: he swaps the cats' ears, so black cats now listen with blonde ears and blonde cats with black ears. Finally, the two sides are able to hear one another...

Originally published in Arabic by the The Tamer Institute for Community Education in Ramallah, أذن سمراء ... أذن شقراء / Black Ear ... Blonde Ear was translated by volunteers, and made available in English over at the International Children's Digital Library, which features a wealth of children's books from around the world. The story itself is an interesting allegory about the pitfalls of prejudice, racism, tribalism - in short, any belief system that pits one community against another. It demonstrates that the only way to achieve peaceful coexistence is to really listen to others, and to hear them with ears sympathetic to their experiences. The accompanying artwork from Fotin Dedvaz is cute, in a cartoonish style. Recommended to picture-book readers looking for stories encouraging peaceful coexistence and/or mindful listening. Also recommended to anyone interested in Palestinian children's literature, of which this is my first example.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book on the International Children's Digital Library (ICDL) website. It's the story of a village near a river, and it's determined that the village will be ruled by a black cat and a blonde cat - each ruling for half a year. A lot of conflicts occur, and the villagers are unhappy with the rulers. When a wise gray cat is born, the villagers decide to make him the ruler. He confronts the conflicts with wisdom, and solves them by creating a situation in which both sides (blonde and black cat) are forced to listen to each other with a new empathy.

This book was published in 2002 by Tamer Institute for Community Education in Palestine. There is definitely a moral to the story that would be a valuable lesson for young children. It could be incorporated into social emotional lessons/activities, and could be extended with activities about what we can do to better listen to one another.

I'd be interested to know how this book is received in Palestine - is it a particularly popular book, widely read to children by parents, or at schools? Since it's a picture book I'd also be interested to know if the style of the illustrations is especially culturally appealing.

[Lindsay Monson]

This is a great book. I was wondering the whole time what the point of the story was going to be and when I got to the end I was so ecstatic. I definitely want to use this in my classroom. I could use this by helping kids learn what respect is and how to make friends, etc.

[Layan Ayman · Rating 5 out of 5]

الفائدة و التميز هي أن لا نتكلم أذاكان أي أحد يتكلم قبلي

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great little story! International Children's Digital Library had this story available through the app. Very simply told, but strong message.

[Loren Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Ear … Blonde Ear is a story by Palestinian author Haled Jum’a written in 2002. It is written in Arabic and translated into English. This book was recommended to me by the International Children’s Digital Library.

I chose to read this story after I read the synopsis because it sounded like a good book to use for K-3 students studying stories that have a moral, which I know our first graders are doing right now at my school. I also thought it had a great multicultural theme that could be used to talk about diversity in the classroom.

In Black Ear … Blonde Ear, there are two groups of cats, black and blonde, living on opposite sides of a river bridge. There is one grey cat that is friends with both groups and travels frequently to each side. When the leader of each cat group dies, they both ask the grey cat to be their new leader, and he accepts. One day, a dispute happens over a mouse that the black cats are trying to catch that runs onto the blonde cats’ side. They all come to their leader, the grey cat, to solve the problem, but are so busy arguing that they will not listen. He asks them to put all of their ears into a basket and go home. When they return a few hours later, he gives the black cats blonde ears and the blonde cats black ears. He says that now they will be able to listen to one another and live together in peace.

Because the moral of this story is very explicit, I think it is a very good book for younger students who are beginning to learn how to identify a moral (such as first graders). There is a multicultural theme that is not as explicit to younger students, but it could be used to talk about people with differences, such as different skin colors, and how we have to listen to everyone’s perspective to live in harmony. It would be beyond this age range, but given the political strife between Palestine and Israel, this book could possibly be used alongside a social studies lesson about the current conflict in the region for older students.

After reading this book, I immediately e-mailed my colleagues who teach first grade at my school and suggested they use it with their current unit. I’ll be interested to hear if they use it and what the students think.

[Sarah K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This text was originally published in Palestine in 2002. It was written in Arabic and translated to English. I found the picture book on the International Children’s Digital Library website. This folklore text begins with two groups of cats, blonde and black, that are segregated by a river. They have two separate rulers that each rule for half a year, but neither group is content when the other’s ruler is in charge. The groups stay separate until a kind, wise grey cat is born in the village that is liked by both groups. When the blonde and black cat rulers need to be replaced, both groups agree that the grey cat should be the new ruler. When a quarrel arises and escalates because neither group will listen to the other, the grey cat has an interesting solution to have the cats remove their ears and come back in two hours. When the cats return, they learn a valuable lesson in the importance of listening to each other to solve problems because, “only when we do that will we be happy and able to live in peace.”

If I were to use this book in my classroom, I would use it in the primary grades when working on retells and themes/lessons since it was a simple plot and easy to practice determining importance of events. The pictures were not culturally relevant, but they did help convey the story and could be used to recall event plots and help with decoding unknown words. It would also be a good text to use with social emotional learning since it conveyed the importance of listening when there is a conflict. Another possible use is in a social studies or civics lesson to highlight the importance of bipartisan leaders and the conflicts that can happen when parties are divided and unwilling to compromise.

Overall, I liked the text because, once translated, it is a story that can apply to many cultures. However, as an international text, the illustrations and content did not help me learn anything about the audience for which the book was originally written. It was translated well and easy to read, but I would not know the intended audience had the Arabic writing not been preserved in the translated copy.

[Elissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Black ear…blonde ear is a picture book by Haled Jum'a. This book was originally written in Arabic and published in Palestine. I read an ebook that was translated into English, and I found the ebook on "childrenslibrary.org" for the purpose of a graduate school assignment. This book is about two groups of cats, the black and blonde cats, who elect to have a cat ruler who is grey. To help solve an argument when neither side would listen to the other, the grey cat tells them to "take off their ears" and come back in the morning. When the cats came back to get their ears, the grey cat mix matched the ears for the cats. The story ends with a nicely wrapped up and well-said theme: "If you are willing to listen to each other, we will be able to solve our problems. Only when you can do that we will be happy and live in peace.

This book had very interesting illustrations, and I appreciated the simple story. I liked how direct it was, and I could see myself sharing this book in my class. I think that this theme, as I mentioned earlier, is a great lesson for all humans to learn. I think that this would be a great book for any grade level, but lower elementary students may appreciate it the most. This would be a great book to start exploring the idea of theme with since it is so simply stated at the end of the book. I could see it being used in a lesson where students identify the theme and then must support their thoughts with examples from the story. I think this would be a great stepping stone as students think about the theme in more complex stories.

[Melanie Berthiaume · Rating 4 out of 5]

Black Ear, Blonde Ear
By Khaled Jum’a
Illustrated by Fotin Dedvaz

Categories/Genres for this class fulfilled by this resource: International Children’s Digital Library

Estimate of age level of interest: 4-8

Estimate of reading level: Grades PreK-3

Brief description: This particular story tells of two groups of cats, one white/blonde and one black. They do not get along until a third party intervenes and makes them trade ears so they learn to listen to each other. What seems like a simple story of cats that don’t get along is really a message of civil rights and peaceful conflict resolution.

Identify at least 2 characteristics of this genre(s) and subgenre and discuss how they appear:
The International Children’s Digital Library provides this book and many others as a resource of diverse literary contributions about common subjects and proves that we are more alike than different. Black Ear, Blonde Ear was originally written in Arabic and has been translated for this site into Italian, Portuguese and English making the story available for a much wider audience. The site includes reviews from children of all ages and nationalities. As a picture book, the story is stronger than the illustrations.

In what ways and how well does this resource as a whole serve its intended audience?
This site and its books serve its diverse audience very well by providing books in a variety of languages, which will support ESL students as well as the less diverse populations that many of us serve. This book, in particular, serves its audience by being entertaining as well as thought-provoking.

Awards if any:
The International Children's Digital Library won the American Library Association President's 2010 Award for International Library Innovation. The ICDL was also named one of 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by the American Association of School Librarians.

Links to published reviews from professional sources e.g. ALA, Booklist, Kirkus, SLJ, etc. if any:
http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resou...

[Casey Strauss · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this picture book online (http://en.childrenslibrary.org/) through the International Children's Library. "Black Ear Blonde Ear" is written by Khaled Jumm'a, its published by Tamer Institute for Community Education in Palestine. There are two groups of cats, black and blond, separated by a bridge on either side of a river. The agreement between the two groups is that a blond cat will lead for half a year, and a black cat for a half a year. Even with this agreement, there is constant fighting between the two groups. One day, a gray cat is born, who all of the cats like, and they decide he should be the leader of both groups. All is well, until once again the fighting resumes. The gray cat brings both groups together, and asks them to give him their ears. He then gives the blond cats black ears, and the black cats blond ears to wear. Once the two groups have switched ears, they gain a new perspective and hear a different side. This book could be used with younger students when discussing friendships and resolving conflict.

[حياة الياقوت · Rating 4 out of 5]

أعجبتني رمزية الآذان في القصة.
النجمة الناقصة بسبب أنه كان من الأفضل أن تكون القطط بيضاء وسوداء، هكذا كان وجود القط الرمادي سيكون مبررا. خاصة وأن الثقافة العربية تقابل بين الأبيض والأسود/الأسمر، لا بين الأشقر والأسود.

بعض الصفحات مزدحمة قليلا بسبب الترجمة الإنكليزية. والترجمة في مواضع لا تتطابق. ففي النص العربي مكتوب أن القط الرمادي ولد لقطة شقراء، بينما في النص الإنكليزي لا نجد إشارة للقطة الأم.

جميل من الناشر أنه وفر القصة مجانا هنا:
http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/...