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The Tiny Journalist
Internationally beloved poet Naomi Shihab Nye places her Palestinian American identity center stage in her latest full-length poetry collection for adults. The collection is inspired by the story of Janna Tamimi, the "Youngest Journalist in Palestine," who at age 7 began capturing videos of anti-occupation protests using her mother's smartphone. Nye draws upon her own family's roots in a West Bank village near Tamimi's hometown to offer empathy and insight to the young girl's reporting. Long an advocate for peaceful communication across all boundaries, Nye’s poems in The Tiny Journalist put a human face on war and the violence that divides us from each other.
112 pages, Hardcover
First published April 9, 2019
46 people are currently reading
848 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Shihab Nye
134 books979 followersNaomi Shihab Nye was born to a Palestinian father and an American mother. During her high school years, she lived in Ramallah in Jordan, the Old City in Jerusalem, and San Antonio, Texas, where she later received her B.A. in English and world religions from Trinity University. She is a novelist, poet and songwriter.
She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2010.
She currently lives in San Antonio, Texas. She was elected a Chancellor of the Academy of American Poets in 2010.
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April 29, 2024
‘The tiny journalist / will tell us what she sees,’ Palestinian-American poet and writer Naomi Shihab Nye writes at the start of her 2019 collection The Tiny Journalist. It is a haunting collection, one that delves into the Palestine-Israel conflict and the lives of Palestinians in ‘the world's largest open-air prison’ as they are displaced, detained and killed, but these poems also seek to capture the hope they will not let be snuffed out. The titular journalist, who’s work documenting the abuse and violence in Gaze and the West Bank is captured here in heart-wrenching poetic form, is none other than Janna Jihad Ayyad, to whom this collection is dedicated along with her cousin, Palestinian activist Ahed Tamimi, and ‘all young people devoted to justice and sharing their voice.’ At age 7, after two members of her family were killed, Janna began capturing the struggles of life in Gaza through her phone camera and sharing it with the world via Facebook, earning herself the distinction of the world’s youngest journalist (she continues to do so, now at the age of 17 in 2023). ‘Janna says the camera is stronger than the gun,’ Nye writes ‘”I can send my message to small people / and they sent it to others.”’ With this collection, Nye has passed her message along again, now in the form of poetry, and it makes for a deeply moving read bearing witness to horrific suffering,
Unforgettable
In the water is a poem
unwritten by grass.
No. In the land is a poem
unwritten by water.
Everything unwritten.
Not on your forehead,
not on the sky.
The fathers sailed away
planning to return,
not easily will they forget
a place that let us all
sorrow this much.
Naomi Shihab Nye has quite a legacy of work with over 30 volumes of poetry as well as many picture books and novels and from 2019-2022 she served as the Young People’s Poet Laureate. I’ve long been moved by her work, and many of you may be familiar with her much loved poem, Kindness (you can read it here). Though in recent years a poem from this collection has frequented social media, particularly around holidays rife with fireworks:
No Explosions
To enjoy
fireworks
you would have
to have lived
a different kind
of life
I’ve always questioned the act of setting off explosives on Memorial Day, though Nye is more specifically addressing the lives of those who have grown up and lived under constant bombardments. Growing up between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Nye writes that she has ‘witnessed many of the struggles firsthand, which have unfortunately only heightened and intensified in the succeeding years.’ Considering the recent events this autumn, Tiny Journalist is all the more critical of a perspective, particularly as it aims to boost the message of Janna Jihad who decided to use her voice when she say that the mass media of the world tended to ignore or rhetorically cover up the things she witnesses on a daily basis (‘I am mad about language / covering pain / big bandage’ Nye writes in a poem criticizing the passive language of newspapers). “Not a lot of journalists are sending our message from Palestine to the world, so I thought, ‘why not send my message … and show them what is happening in my village’,” Janna said in an interview with Aljazeera when she was 10 years old. Janna has faced death threats and intimidation for her work and there is always the threat of arrest looming over her (Amnesty International reports that 500 to 700 Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted by Israeli military courts every year) but she continues to use her voice to draw attention. Which is the goal of poetry as well so it is wonderful to see Nye take her perspective and turn it into poetry.
Her voice a library of kindness.
I hear pages rustling, hungry fingers
moving through stories. If you very alone,
you would want this voice to find you.
Grief is central to this collection. The poems chronicle life under occupation, such as arrests—many of which are done without a stated crime where even higher profile Palestinians are detained (earlier this week poet Mosab Abu Toha was detained but later released)—violence and death. Writing from the United States, Nye confronts US readers with their complicity, such as poems titled ‘America Gives Israel Ten Million Dollars A Day’ or when she writes ‘sometimes I wonder what / 38 billion dollars could buy, instead of weapons aimed / against us.’ Nye pulls us into the perspective of those who feel cast aside or demonized simply for where they are born, further displaced from the world when the media ignores their perspectives (‘why don’t they write about us more?’) or launches readymade retorts at criticisms for such a thing. ‘Calling us anti-Semitic / when we are Semites too,’ she addresses multiple times in the collection, ‘no joke, no one is laughing.’ She asks us not to look away, and ‘Why can’t they see / how beautiful we are?’
‘This was our superpower, retaining imagination in our worst days.’
There is still hope burning brightly even in all the sorrows of this collection. ‘Our magic is that we are / still here and we're always here,’ she writes. And she champions those who do speak up and speak out, like Janna, and ensure their voices will not be silenced or discarded into oblivion. This is a powerful and rather painful collection, mostly told through a fictionalized perspective of Janna as she holds her camera up for the world or addresses people via social media, and one that asks for your attention and understanding. I would highly recommend checking out Tiny Journalist, it may not be an easy read but it is an important one.
⅘
People think of us differently.
We may be in prison, but we still love beauty.
We may be oppressed, but we are smart.
We may think we don't need glasses, but the big E
for equality has been lying on its back
for a long time now
kicking its legs in the air like an animal
that needs help to get up.
Unforgettable
In the water is a poem
unwritten by grass.
No. In the land is a poem
unwritten by water.
Everything unwritten.
Not on your forehead,
not on the sky.
The fathers sailed away
planning to return,
not easily will they forget
a place that let us all
sorrow this much.
Naomi Shihab Nye has quite a legacy of work with over 30 volumes of poetry as well as many picture books and novels and from 2019-2022 she served as the Young People’s Poet Laureate. I’ve long been moved by her work, and many of you may be familiar with her much loved poem, Kindness (you can read it here). Though in recent years a poem from this collection has frequented social media, particularly around holidays rife with fireworks:
No Explosions
To enjoy
fireworks
you would have
to have lived
a different kind
of life
I’ve always questioned the act of setting off explosives on Memorial Day, though Nye is more specifically addressing the lives of those who have grown up and lived under constant bombardments. Growing up between Jerusalem and Ramallah, Nye writes that she has ‘witnessed many of the struggles firsthand, which have unfortunately only heightened and intensified in the succeeding years.’ Considering the recent events this autumn, Tiny Journalist is all the more critical of a perspective, particularly as it aims to boost the message of Janna Jihad who decided to use her voice when she say that the mass media of the world tended to ignore or rhetorically cover up the things she witnesses on a daily basis (‘I am mad about language / covering pain / big bandage’ Nye writes in a poem criticizing the passive language of newspapers). “Not a lot of journalists are sending our message from Palestine to the world, so I thought, ‘why not send my message … and show them what is happening in my village’,” Janna said in an interview with Aljazeera when she was 10 years old. Janna has faced death threats and intimidation for her work and there is always the threat of arrest looming over her (Amnesty International reports that 500 to 700 Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted by Israeli military courts every year) but she continues to use her voice to draw attention. Which is the goal of poetry as well so it is wonderful to see Nye take her perspective and turn it into poetry.
Her voice a library of kindness.
I hear pages rustling, hungry fingers
moving through stories. If you very alone,
you would want this voice to find you.
Grief is central to this collection. The poems chronicle life under occupation, such as arrests—many of which are done without a stated crime where even higher profile Palestinians are detained (earlier this week poet Mosab Abu Toha was detained but later released)—violence and death. Writing from the United States, Nye confronts US readers with their complicity, such as poems titled ‘America Gives Israel Ten Million Dollars A Day’ or when she writes ‘sometimes I wonder what / 38 billion dollars could buy, instead of weapons aimed / against us.’ Nye pulls us into the perspective of those who feel cast aside or demonized simply for where they are born, further displaced from the world when the media ignores their perspectives (‘why don’t they write about us more?’) or launches readymade retorts at criticisms for such a thing. ‘Calling us anti-Semitic / when we are Semites too,’ she addresses multiple times in the collection, ‘no joke, no one is laughing.’ She asks us not to look away, and ‘Why can’t they see / how beautiful we are?’
‘This was our superpower, retaining imagination in our worst days.’
There is still hope burning brightly even in all the sorrows of this collection. ‘Our magic is that we are / still here and we're always here,’ she writes. And she champions those who do speak up and speak out, like Janna, and ensure their voices will not be silenced or discarded into oblivion. This is a powerful and rather painful collection, mostly told through a fictionalized perspective of Janna as she holds her camera up for the world or addresses people via social media, and one that asks for your attention and understanding. I would highly recommend checking out Tiny Journalist, it may not be an easy read but it is an important one.
⅘
People think of us differently.
We may be in prison, but we still love beauty.
We may be oppressed, but we are smart.
We may think we don't need glasses, but the big E
for equality has been lying on its back
for a long time now
kicking its legs in the air like an animal
that needs help to get up.
Read
April 26, 2021▫️Three pieces from Naomi Shihab Nye's THE TINY JOURNALIST, 2019.
"No Explosions"
To enjoy
fireworks
you would have
to have lived
a different kind
of life
.
"Harvest" (selected verse)
Some say Israel would be happiest
if we just disappeared. Like a magic show?
Our magic is that we are
still here and we're always here.
.
"Gratitude List"
Thank you for insulting me.
You helped me see how much I was worth.
Thank you for overlooking my humanity.
In that moment I gained power.
To be forgotten by the wider world
and the righteous religious
and the weaponizing soldiers
is not the worst thing.
It gives you time to discover yourself.
....
✒️ This is my 3rd collection by Shihab Nye (read her older collections FUEL and HONEYBEE in past years) and this one is my favorite thus far. Named in honor of Janna Jihad Ayyad, the 7-year old Palestinian girl who began documenting the Israeli occupation and protests. Strong collection with political themes and meditations.
"No Explosions"
To enjoy
fireworks
you would have
to have lived
a different kind
of life
.
"Harvest" (selected verse)
Some say Israel would be happiest
if we just disappeared. Like a magic show?
Our magic is that we are
still here and we're always here.
.
"Gratitude List"
Thank you for insulting me.
You helped me see how much I was worth.
Thank you for overlooking my humanity.
In that moment I gained power.
To be forgotten by the wider world
and the righteous religious
and the weaponizing soldiers
is not the worst thing.
It gives you time to discover yourself.
....
✒️ This is my 3rd collection by Shihab Nye (read her older collections FUEL and HONEYBEE in past years) and this one is my favorite thus far. Named in honor of Janna Jihad Ayyad, the 7-year old Palestinian girl who began documenting the Israeli occupation and protests. Strong collection with political themes and meditations.
November 30, 2023
Tell our story!
This was a quite good poetry collection, that is as relevant now, if not more, as in 2019. It's kind, sad, angry and somehow also hopeful.
Why can't they see how beautiful we are?
The saddest part, we could have had twice as many friends.
I listened to it read by the author and I really love that for poetry, usually, and I loved listening to her just now. I think it's very much worth experiencing and life-affirming. I could go on a rant right now, but I won't, because it very much speaks for itself.
This was a quite good poetry collection, that is as relevant now, if not more, as in 2019. It's kind, sad, angry and somehow also hopeful.
Why can't they see how beautiful we are?
The saddest part, we could have had twice as many friends.
I listened to it read by the author and I really love that for poetry, usually, and I loved listening to her just now. I think it's very much worth experiencing and life-affirming. I could go on a rant right now, but I won't, because it very much speaks for itself.
December 28, 2023
"the saddest part? / We all could have had / twice as many friends"
November 23, 2023
Stunning stunning stunning, split my heart open.
April 23, 2019
I have been reading Naomi Shihab Nye since high school. She has been writing of the plight and the humanity of Palestinians in all of her work, while this collection squarely rests with "the world's largest open-air prison." Nye also points out that Palestinians are also Semites, so being pro-justice for Palestinians is "never an anti-Semitic position, no matter what anybody says." These poems are simple but expressive of pain, oppression, joy and hope.
From "Netanyahu"
What does it mean when one person thinks
others deserve nothing?
What is that called?
From "My Wisdom"
When people have a lot
they want more
When people have nothing
they will happily share it
*
Some people say
never getting your way
builds character
By now our character must be
deep and wide as a continent
Africa, Australia
giant cascade of stars
spilling over our huge night
From "Better Vision":
People think of us differently.
We may be in prison, but we still love beauty.
We may be oppressed, but we are smart.
We may think we don't need glasses, but the big E
for equality has been lying on its back
for a long time now
kicking its legs in the air like an animal
that needs help to get up.
From "Netanyahu"
What does it mean when one person thinks
others deserve nothing?
What is that called?
From "My Wisdom"
When people have a lot
they want more
When people have nothing
they will happily share it
*
Some people say
never getting your way
builds character
By now our character must be
deep and wide as a continent
Africa, Australia
giant cascade of stars
spilling over our huge night
From "Better Vision":
People think of us differently.
We may be in prison, but we still love beauty.
We may be oppressed, but we are smart.
We may think we don't need glasses, but the big E
for equality has been lying on its back
for a long time now
kicking its legs in the air like an animal
that needs help to get up.
March 27, 2020
I love Naomi Shihab Nye!
October 25, 2023
Poetry has a way of opening the readers heart and mind to new perspectives and emotion. This collection definitely brings a fresh surge of compassion for the Palestinian people, especially children.
July 13, 2019
"Her voice a library of kindness.
I hear pages rustling, hungry fingers
moving through stories. If you very alone,
you would want this voice to find you."
^ I enjoyed this collection of poetry. Many gems to be discovered.
I hear pages rustling, hungry fingers
moving through stories. If you very alone,
you would want this voice to find you."
^ I enjoyed this collection of poetry. Many gems to be discovered.
June 18, 2024
I've been meaning to check out Naomi Shihab Nye's poetry for a while, and I'm glad I finally did. The Tiny Journalist is a collection of poems "inspired by the story of Janna Tamimi, the "Youngest Journalist in Palestine," who at age 7 began capturing videos of anti-occupation protests using her mother's smartphone." It also uses Shihab Nye's own experiences and emotions as a Palestinian to factor into the stories being told and the emotion it's filled with. My favourite poem in the collection was maybe America Gives Israel Ten Million Dollars a Day.
I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by the poet herself. I'm still really adjusting to poetry in audio form, as it's something I haven't done as much of and I definitely don't absorb it as well as I would like, but even though it's harder for me to pull specific memories of this line or that poem, I know that it made me feel and it made me think and that's all I really ask of poetry.
Recommended!
I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by the poet herself. I'm still really adjusting to poetry in audio form, as it's something I haven't done as much of and I definitely don't absorb it as well as I would like, but even though it's harder for me to pull specific memories of this line or that poem, I know that it made me feel and it made me think and that's all I really ask of poetry.
Recommended!
July 23, 2020
Haunting and vivid. My soul feels scorched and my heart wilted and brittle. Some of my favorite lines from this slim collection include:
"What scraps we cling to these days -..."
"Calendars can weep too/They want us to have better days..."
"This was our superpower, retaining imagination in our worst days."
Highly recommend.
"What scraps we cling to these days -..."
"Calendars can weep too/They want us to have better days..."
"This was our superpower, retaining imagination in our worst days."
Highly recommend.
January 8, 2020
I first read Shihab Nye as a teenager. I’m 38 now and she’s every bit as full of pure heart and love as ever. What a book. Read it please. Ache.
December 31, 2019
This collection of poems was inspired by the work of Janna Ayyad, a young Palestinian girl who began filming and sharing the struggles of her people when she was only 7. Janna is representing the place Nye's family came from and lost many years ago.
From 38 Billion:
.....sometimes I wonder what
38 billion dollars could buy, instead of weapons aimed
against us and this is what comes to mind:
Eggs. Pencils. Undershirts of very soft cotton.
Ribbons. Radios. Shining flashlights.
Handmade clay plates. Chocolates. Really soft pillows.
Baskets. Bracelets. Running shoes.
Nye places the stark reality of war sharply into view and it is impossible not to reflect on our complicity.
From 38 Billion:
.....sometimes I wonder what
38 billion dollars could buy, instead of weapons aimed
against us and this is what comes to mind:
Eggs. Pencils. Undershirts of very soft cotton.
Ribbons. Radios. Shining flashlights.
Handmade clay plates. Chocolates. Really soft pillows.
Baskets. Bracelets. Running shoes.
Nye places the stark reality of war sharply into view and it is impossible not to reflect on our complicity.
February 29, 2024
Naomi Shihab Nye is a giant in poetry that everyone should read, imo. I love the way she documents and gives voice to those risking their lives to report on Palestine, and rereading this now is such a big reminder of the importance of turning off mainstream news and listening to people on the ground in Gaza speak to what's going on. Nye focuses in particular on Janna Jihad, who began voicing the reality of Palestinian life as a child and continued to do so into adulthood. It feels so similar to the documenting we've seen children rise up and do during the current genocide of their people, as well as people like Bisan Owda and Motaz Azaiza.
July 22, 2019
Poems on the Gaza Strip, Janna the young journalist, freedom, displacement, food, Jerusalem, her father, the struggles, explosions, her grandmother, Donald Trump, and being Palestinian. Peace Talks rang very true unfortunately.
February 24, 2021
This was so well-written I think my brain died. The way that the poems are written provoked pretty strong emotional reactions in me, and you bet your ass I was crying on the bus while reading “Mediterranean Blue”. I genuinely loved reading the poems in this book out loud to really hear and absorb how beautiful the writing of the poetry was, like damn.
This was such a brilliantly written window into the daily lives of Janna Jihad and those around her, while at the same time being written by a different person. How the book talked about the exhaustion, the fear, and the frustration of the people leading their daily lives constantly surrounded by the conflict that no one seems to care about was to me very unforgettable.
The book speaks on how Janna Jihad, other children, adult Palestinians and Palestinian Americans see and respond to the hardships faces by those who live along the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many of the poems are written from the perspective of a child or a young person learning and becoming familiar with the horrors of war, and similarly to when Janna talks about the conflicts she faces and sees every day, this book was jarring in its bluntness and emotional intensity, which I loved and appreciated.
A major theme of the book is grief, as you would expect. There is a lot of loss, and dealing with loss, and the fear of losing those you love, present in the poems which is and it was interesting how relatable emotions like grief and loss, were put into the unfamiliar context of war and constant violence to speak to the reader and make them really absorb the things the books was to saying.
TL;DR – read the goddamn book. It’s amazing.
This was such a brilliantly written window into the daily lives of Janna Jihad and those around her, while at the same time being written by a different person. How the book talked about the exhaustion, the fear, and the frustration of the people leading their daily lives constantly surrounded by the conflict that no one seems to care about was to me very unforgettable.
The book speaks on how Janna Jihad, other children, adult Palestinians and Palestinian Americans see and respond to the hardships faces by those who live along the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Many of the poems are written from the perspective of a child or a young person learning and becoming familiar with the horrors of war, and similarly to when Janna talks about the conflicts she faces and sees every day, this book was jarring in its bluntness and emotional intensity, which I loved and appreciated.
A major theme of the book is grief, as you would expect. There is a lot of loss, and dealing with loss, and the fear of losing those you love, present in the poems which is and it was interesting how relatable emotions like grief and loss, were put into the unfamiliar context of war and constant violence to speak to the reader and make them really absorb the things the books was to saying.
TL;DR – read the goddamn book. It’s amazing.
May 13, 2020
Almost a 4?
I have always loved Nye's poetry. I think what makes me hesitate to give this a solid 4 is it didn't have the same poetic quality that her earlier works did. There was an incredible message throughout these poems, though, and that alone deserves a 5.
I have always loved Nye's poetry. I think what makes me hesitate to give this a solid 4 is it didn't have the same poetic quality that her earlier works did. There was an incredible message throughout these poems, though, and that alone deserves a 5.
April 22, 2021
Another work of challenging beauty from the woman who is perhaps my favorite living poet.
From "Morning Song":
"She stares through a hole in the fence,
barricade of words and wire,
feels the rising fire
before anyone strikes a match.
She has a better idea."
From "Morning Song":
"She stares through a hole in the fence,
barricade of words and wire,
feels the rising fire
before anyone strikes a match.
She has a better idea."
October 16, 2023
Beautiful poetry about growing up as a Palestinian girl. I think that poetry offers us something different than facts and historical reporting (we need both). I know that my empathy is stirred by Nye’s beautiful words and sobering memories.
September 9, 2025
Beautiful, thought-provoking verse inspired by the young Palestinian activist and advocate, Janna Jihad Ayyad. (You can find and follow her as Janna Jihad on Facebook.) This is a book I'll keep and re-read for its beauty and raw truth.
May 1, 2019
I should add an "emotions" category to my rating system for poetry. Did this make me cry? Yes. Read my full review here.
August 22, 2019
Devastating and beautiful.
January 8, 2020
Started the year out with a selection of poems about Janna Jihad. 'The Troubles' brought me to tears. Thank you for writing this.
April 24, 2021
Powerful and evocative.
September 30, 2023
Wonderful.
Read
January 6, 2024"Babies say, Mine, mine, but babies are kind.
The men on the screen, jaws tight,
can’t remember a single right thing to do."
The men on the screen, jaws tight,
can’t remember a single right thing to do."
May 15, 2025
my book is covered in tear stains. this is so good.
June 5, 2025
Why can’t they see how beautiful we are?
June 21, 2019
Delightful beautiful work by Naomi Shihab Nye.
February 14, 2025
This is my second experience with Naomi Shihab Nye and I was a little intimidated by the first few pages, knowing next to nothing about the Middle East. Because I really enjoyed the other collection of hers that I read, I decided to give this a try anyway, despite coming in with low expectations just based on the subject.
Still new to this author's work, I'm starting to really get what all the fuss is about. Though I am sure quite a bit of this collection went over my head, I was still able to get a lot out of it and gain a better understanding of the perspective presented. These pieces are all very accessible and relatable while covering intensely deep topics.
One of the things I appreciate the most about Naomi Shihab Nye is the variety of her poems: some long, some short, some extravagantly titled, some simply. Having such wide array of different styles and formats while still exhibiting the same masterful use of language makes reading this collection so easy.
Still new to this author's work, I'm starting to really get what all the fuss is about. Though I am sure quite a bit of this collection went over my head, I was still able to get a lot out of it and gain a better understanding of the perspective presented. These pieces are all very accessible and relatable while covering intensely deep topics.
One of the things I appreciate the most about Naomi Shihab Nye is the variety of her poems: some long, some short, some extravagantly titled, some simply. Having such wide array of different styles and formats while still exhibiting the same masterful use of language makes reading this collection so easy.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 121 reviews