The Lemon Tree (Young Readers' Edition): An Arab, a Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East

by Sandy Tolan

In 1967, a twenty-five-year-old refugee named Bashir Khairi traveled from the Palestinian hill town of Ramallah to Ramla, Israel, with a to see the beloved stone house with the lemon tree in its backyard that he and his family had been forced to leave nineteen years earlier. When he arrived, he was greeted by one of its new Dalia Eshkenazi Landau, a nineteen-year-old Israeli college student whose family had fled Europe following the Holocaust. She had lived in that house since she was eleven months old.
On the stoop of this shared house, Dalia and Bashir began a surprising friendship, forged in the aftermath of war and later tested as political tensions ran high and Israelis and Palestinians each asserted their own right to live on this land. Adapted from the award-winning adult book and based on Sandy Tolan's extensive research and reporting, The Lemon Tree is a deeply personal story of two people seeking hope, transformation, and home.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Book Club, Middle Grade, Audiobook, Memoir, Religion

192 pages, Hardcover

Published August 11, 2020

About the author

Sandy Tolan is a teacher and radio documentary producer. He is the author of two books: Me and Hank: A Boy and His Hero, Twenty-Five Years Later (Free Press, 2000), about the intersection between race, sports, and American heroes; and The Lemon Tree: An Arab, A Jew, and the Heart of the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2006). The Washington Post called the book “extraordinary” and selected it among their top nonfiction titles for 2006; the Christian Science Monitor wrote, “no novel could be more compelling” and proclaimed, “It will be one of the best nonfiction books you will read this year.”Sandy has reported from more than 30 countries, especially in the Middle East, Latin America, the Balkans, and Eastern Europe.
As co-founder of Homelands Productions, he has produced hundreds of documentaries and features for public radio. He has written for more than 40 newspapers and magazines. Sandy is associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at USC. From 2000-2007, he taught international reporting and radio at the Graduate School of Journalism at the University of California-Berkeley. In 2007, his students won the George Polk Award for a series for print and radio on the early signs of climate change around the world. It was the first time students have been honored in the 58-year history of the awards.

For reviews, and other information about The Lemon Tree, please use the drop down menu under the Lemon Tree, on the main menu.

Reviews

[Isabelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Lemon Tree (Young Readers' Edition) // by Sandy Tolan

I choose this book for several reasons. I previously knew next to nothing about the conflict between Palestine and Israel so I wanted to learn about it in order to be able to form my own opinion since I recently became a citizen and am now able to vote in elections that may have an influence on international issues. I also was interested to see how a topic with as much violence as this would be portrayed in a book directed towards young readers. This led me to my next question: What age range is meant by "young readers?" This last question took me on a Google search that resulted in an approximate range of 8-12 years old.

The goal of this book was to take a real-life event, or chain of events in this case, and tell it like a novel. While I do have to say that this book seems very well researched with years of fact-checking by both Palestine and Israeli historians, which makes this an incredible book to read, I cannot say that it does actually feel like a novel. It does not have the same flow as you would expect from a fictional story, which though does not take away from the importance of this book at all. It is incredible to be witness to the relationship between Dalia and Bashir, two people that could not be fundamentally more opposite in their vision for the future.

There are though a lot of sections in this book that may feel rather dry to the targeted age range. I also want to say that I had the feeling - based on the introduction - that the author had the goal of being unbiased throughout the story, telling it from both sides equally. Rereading the intro now though while writing this review I am wondering if maybe I made that up in my head. Either way though, this book does seem just a tad biased towards one side of the conflict, which in turn makes me lean towards that same side as well as I am now in the beginning stages of forming my own opinion on this topic, though I will refrain from saying which side that is.

Overall though, I very much like the way Tolan focused on the two families that revolve around this same house and the way that this story starts and ends around the lemon tree. I think the descriptions of the violence were done appropriately for the targeted age group, relaying the devastation and tragedy without going into too much gruesome detail. This seems like a great introduction to this topic for readers of all ages that can lead each person to their own next questions to research.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heartbroken over what is happening in the Middle East and trying to better understand the conflict that’s been going on for decades. How many more innocent people need to die until someone decides they’ve “won”? Praying for the violence to stop. No one should have to live, or die, this way. 💔

[Nora Alexander · Rating 4 out of 5]

I appreciate this book for YA audience. I had difficulty grasping the political side of the book but enjoyed the story writhing of the lemon tree and the two friends. I look forward to our book club discussion and perhaps coming away with a better understanding of the current war.

[Laila Collman · Rating 5 out of 5]

A friend who studies international conflicts recommended this book to me, and I’m so thankful she did! I want to read more books like this, that approach regions of conflict with radical empathy for both sides, supported by thorough & detailed research. Also, I want to note that I read this version (the version for children) just because it was the only one that was available from my library.

I also want to clarify that I personally believe it’s entirely possible to be critical of the state of Israel without being antisemitic. As a person of Jewish heritage myself, who cares deeply about the historical & present-day treatment of Jewish people, I also care about injustice and acts of inhumanity to human beings everywhere. It’s hard to understand how people who have suffered so much trauma can turn around and commit further atrocities against other human beings, as we see the state of Israel doing to Palestinians. It’s also so hard to talk about this conflict in any kind of proactive way, since people tend to have extreme and polarized opinions about it. Of course, one book isn’t going to bring peace to the middle east, but it can definitely open hearts and widen perspectives.

In short, this book tells the true story of a home, the Palestinian boy who lived there until his family was forced to leave in the Nakba, and the Bulgarian-Israeli girl who later moved into that same home in the post-WW2 resettlement of Jews to the new state of Israel. It recounts their unlikely connection and friendship, and many thoughtful conversations held over decades. The beauty of this story lies in the tension between their differing beliefs, and yet their ability to see each other’s hearts and humanity across that gap.

I wanted to share some of the lines that I highlighted from this powerful book:

“Israel first came to the imagination of the Western occupying powers for two reasons…first, to get rid of [Jews] in Europe. Second, to rule the East through this government and to keep down the whole Arab world. And then the leaders started remembering the Torah and started to talk about the land of milk and honey, and the Promised Land... Why…should [our] homeland be the solution to the Jewish problem in Europe? …Why should we pay for what [the Nazis] did?”

“Now because you want to live in a safe place, other people live in pain. If we take your family, for example. You come running from another place. Where should you stay? In a house owned by someone else? Will you take the house from them? And the owners - us - should we leave our house and go to another place? Is it justice that we should be expelled from our cities, our villages, our streets?”

“Many Jews who came here believed they were a people without a land going to a land without people. That is ignoring the indigenous people of this land. Their civilization, their history, their heritage, their culture.”

“We were exiled by the force of arms. We were exiled on foot. We were exiled to take the earth as our bed. And the sky as a cover…We were exiled but we left our souls, our hopes and our childhood in Palestine. We left our joys and sorrow. We left them in every corner, and on every grain of sand in Palestine. We left them with each lemon fruit, with each olive. We left them in the roses and flowers. We left them in the flowering tree that stands with pride at the entrance of our house in al-Ramla. We left them in the remains of our fathers and ancestors. We left them as witnesses and history. We left them, hoping to return.”

“How does one acknowledge the collective wound? she had asked herself again and again. The heart wants to move toward the healing of that wound.”

“Will the legacy of pain grow and harden with bitterness as it passes down from generations?”

“This is the kind of war that no one can win.”

[Alyssa Killingsworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Totally nonfiction but completely draws you in as a story. An important book and also an enjoyable one, making it definitely worth a read. It was certainly bittersweet, sometimes more of one or the other, but the balance of lovely and kind and complicated and wrenching that make it a compelling depiction of life in a world where people are trying to protect themselves and their families amidst the push and pulls of the world.

I started the audiobook version of this book back in June when I was packing up our stuff in NY. I quickly realized it warranted more of my emotion and attention than it would get with packing, so I tabled it until recently. I accidentally read the “young reader’s version,” though it was so well written, I didn’t realize literally until the authors notes at the end. I imagine it was shorter and simplified and I’m interested in reading the longer story later on, but I honestly don’t think it was a bad place to start. The audiobook narrator also did a really nice job.

I really appreciated that the author humanized all the characters and left the decision up to the reader to make on what the next step should be. I agree with other reviews that it may have felt that Dalia’s argument was the “reasonable” one at times, but I don’t think the author’s intention was to skew one way or the other and that the interpretation of that could be the result of one’s own cultural interpretation of what “good” should be. In light of the most recent war and genocide in Gaza, I feel like I can understand the Palestinian belief that working peacefully with the state will never grant them rights, because even if people can connect on a personal level, and should, the interpersonal connection of people is not the same relationship as governmental agendas. All in all, I learned a lot from this story and also enjoyed it. I wish there was a neat and easy solution but it wouldn’t be real life if there was, and it warrants context aside from flashy news headlines.

[Dalila Baied · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweetly intense book.
I found myself agitated with the back and forth between Dalia and Bashir.
I still feel pro Palestine after reading this.

[Heidi Ostergaard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Worth the read especially given current global events. I appreciated it was written by an npr journalist and was reviewed by both main characters before publication.

[Cristine Braddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Eye-opening!! I would love to read the original, but chose the young readers edition because it was the copy on the shelf at the library. Is there a solution beyond us vs them? That is the question he asks, the question that Bashir and Dalia grapple with throughout their friendship.

“In a peace plan, everybody will have to do with less than they deserve” - Dalia

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I selected this book because I wanted to learn more about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict dominating our current news cycle. The young adult version was readily available at the public library so I took it home. After I started reading, I was glad to have this version as I believe it provided me with a better understanding of a difficult, ongoing war between peoples. There is a lot of complicated history.

It is obvious the time and energy the author committed to research. The personal story between Bashir and Dalia is the thread of this novel. It effectively elicits the variety of emotions present for many of the families in this geographic area of the world.

[rara ➶ · Rating 2 out of 5]

soooo thoughts are thunk.

people at the library were checking this out left and right, so i thought let me see what these yt people are reading about the matter at hand.

i read the YA version, didn't want to wait on hold, but there is an adult version too.

let me just say this -- Free Palestine

i will leave it at that, mediocre overall

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. While the content of this young readers' edition is appropriate for middle grade readers in terms of violence, etc, it does need to be said that unless a middle grade reader is REALLY interested in the topic, they will get bogged down in the 80 pages of basically just historical details in the first half of the book. My 2nd kid would have been undeterred, but then again, he asked to have his own copy of "The Art of War" as part of his Easter basket when he was 10, so he's not your typical reader. Child 1 & 3 would have struggled to make it through to the first half at that age, but would have had no problems in the second half where there is a stronger sense of narrative. I will say that I appreciate that Tolan never talked down to his audience, and he believed in their ability to handle big ideas and make their own decisions.

With that out of the way, this is a fantastic book for YA and adult readers to understand how Israel and Palestine have arrived the situation we are in today. The explanations are clear and nuanced, the framework is really compelling, and I think both of the central characters would feel they were represented fairly. Even though they were often at odds, I rooted for both of them.

In some ways, this book reminded me of Rian Malan's fantastic My Traitor's Heart, which grapples with those same challenges of breaking out of long-entrenched cycles of violence. I'd say that neither book is the kind that offers tidy answers, but rather, they encourage the reader to ask better questions, especially of themselves. I certainly asked a lot of questions of myself and the blind spots of my pluralist heart. This was thought-provoking, and I plan to offer it to my teens before I return it to the library.

[Kasey Giard · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a few chapters to really get hooked on this book. I’m not very familiar with the history of Israel, so I had to read some parts more than once to keep things straight in my head.

Once I started to get to know Dalia and Bashir, I really began to invest in the story. I love that the book follows both of their lives and often lets them tell the story themselves. There are some really moving and hopeful moments, but there are some really tragic and heartbreaking moments, too.

I wish there had been some photos or maps or timelines or other visuals in the book. It’s all narrative, and well-written. I think visuals would have made it easier for me to understand some of what was happening, and I would have loved to have seen photos of Dalia and Bashir and the house.

On the whole, I really enjoyed THE LEMON TREE, and I’m so glad I read it. I hope to share this book with others, too. I think it really showed the differences in perspective between Dalia and Bashir and the struggle to be and remain friends in spite and because of their differences and their connections. I feel like we could all use this kind of hopeful story right now.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

[Abbi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a great personalized history of Israel/Palestine! This book has been on my to-read list for several years, and I even started it a time or two but found it too overwhelming to get beyond the first chapter, so I was SO excited to find a young reader’s edition and it did not disappoint. So informative, so compelling, so interesting, and so at my level! :-) Highly recommend this, especially the young reader’s edition for anyone who, like me, usually shies away from dense nonfiction books. I learned a ton about the complicated history of Israel/Palestine and now have a much better framework to learn about current events happening there.

[Martha☀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

It wasn't until I finished the book and came to write a review that I realized I'd read the 'young readers' edition' of Tolan's more famous book of the same title. But it did not feel like a watered-down, child-friendly version and, in fact, was perfect for me to gain a better understanding of the history of Jews in Palestine.

Tolan has a rare ability to make a completely non-fiction account feel like a novel with a unique cast of characters, each with their own motivations and perspectives. He gives Bashir (Arab) and Dalia (Jewish) equal weight in his discussion of who truly has claim to the house with the lemon tree. The history and the interaction between Bashir and Dalia was delivered without bias and, at times, refreshing.

This house with the lemon tree was built in 1938 by Bashir's father. In 1948, Bashir's family was forcibly removed from Palestine and the 'abandoned' house became Dalia's home. This account starts in 1967, when Bashir and Dalia first meet and begin a friendship that lasts through the early 2000s.

This original book was published over 20 years ago (2006). So much has changed within Palestine since then, but, viewed as a history, this book shows how it was, how it started and how it has divided.

[Camelia Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read Lemon Tree to educate myself on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict. It’s a tale about two people, one Arab and one Jew, and the stone house (with a lemon tree) their families shared across time. Two people on the opposite sides of the conflict struck up an unlikely friendship, yet the chasm between them could not be bridged. If there is ever going to be a happy ending for both, they can’t see it, nor can the author or a reader like me. All I see is a dead knot.

PS: I did not realize until the book was finished that the version I listened to was the young reader’s version

[Lindsey Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I’ve never really understood the Palestinian/Jewish conflict until this book. It’s a quick read and a true (!?!!!) account between two very courageous and passionate people- one Palestinian and one Jewish. I admire their courage, their passion, their belief, and their friendship and civility. A really great read that made me think about how I build bridges personally and how I view “the other.”

[Sara B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started the audiobook last month after trying to sort through all the news of Oct 7th and the ongoing conflict. Dalia and Bashir’s story is heartbreaking. This book gave me a better understanding of history of Israel and Palestine. So many missed chances for peace, especially early on. So much tragedy!

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn’t intentionally read the junior version, but still found it very insightful. (There were sections that would have been too advanced for 8-12 year olds.)

After reading a perspective from both sides it makes a solution to the ongoing conflict seem incredibly difficult to attain.

[K Culp · Rating 4 out of 5]

I accidentally got the Young Adult edition of this book. I’ve always been confused by the Middle East tensions and wars. This nonfiction account was fascinating and helped me understand the two points of view.

[Kellie Harvey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the idea of this book and I learned a lot about the history of Israel and Palestine. I'm glad I read it but it was kind of dry and difficult to get through.

[Emily Brester · Rating 4 out of 5]

1/3 school summer reading done

[Brennen Schmitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

didn’t realize the audio version i had was an abridged “young readers.” regardless, this was fantastic.
i’ve always understood the Palestine/Israel conflict from a 1000ft view. this took me right into the heart of it from the perspective of two “friends” on polar extremes of the conflict.
i’ll be circling around to the full version in the future.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for book club, accidentally picked up the young readers edition. This may have been a happy mistake as I find the conflict between Israel and Palestine so confusing: how do they ever expect to have lasting peace if both sides keep bombing and killing each other? Two wrongs have never made a right but they don't seem to get that.

The author did a good job presenting both sides of the story and I appreciate reading this book as a historical piece. I may try to read the full/adult version to get more details. One huge question I still have after reading it, why does America side so strongly with Israel?

[Cookie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. To hear the history of both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict through the eyes of individuals on each side was an amazing way to understand at least in part why the situation is so tense now. I would like to thank the author for this opportunity. Unfortunately, it also doesn’t give me much hope for a peaceful end to the current conflict.

[Kelly McCord · Rating 4 out of 5]

I put this on hold at the library without realizing it was the young readers' edition. Thankfully, this really broke things down into an easily understandable timeline and series of events. I was looking for both knowledge and perspective about the conflict and this book this filled in many blanks. Now I think I can go read the adult version and be ready to gain so much more.

[Lydia Sigwarth · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Gwen Ruebush · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book helped me understand better a part of the world I didn't know much about.

[Chun Hu · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book to help you understand the Middle East Conflicts and how it turned into the situation today. It was written like a novel between two families (a Jewish girl and an Arabic boy) who took the same house as residence, one in formerly Arab Palestine, the other after the Arab-Israeli War. You hear the perspectives of both sides.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would highly recommend to adults who need a introductory resource to Israeli/Palestinian relations.

[Faith Dantowitz · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you are looking for an objective story about the Palestinian Israeli conflict, this is not the right book for you. This may have been fact checked but the entire book, the quotes and the facts were very selectively chosen, creating a narrative that is not actually completely factual. I read the adult version and listened to the children’s version and shared the experience with my children. As we dug into the story, I shared how they created a narrative that demonstrated the Palestinian perspective but did not give the same depth into the Israeli perspective. I get that because it was actually a response to a Palestinian experience. This does not mean it was every single Palestinians experience. Yes, some families sold their homes to Jews, yes, some families left with the belief that the Arab leagues would liberate them and eliminate all Jews. They did not.

What’s fascinating to me is that they talk about the Jews leaving Eastern Europe, but do not mention that the Jews lost everything, that the Jews who did return to their homes were most often killed or chased away, and threatened with death. They say almost nothing about the Palestinians who stayed, and were not murdered and lived in peace and have equal rights in Israel. They don’t say that they rejected every offer to divide the land. They don’t mention the Jews that were forced from their homes in 2005, the Jews that were in Gaza so that Gaza would only belong to Palestinians.

What is happening now in Gaza is horrible, this should not mean that a fictionalized book should be taken as primary source material. Do your own independent research and do not research based on either perspective. Look for primary sources.