This book takes place before that relative peace during the Clinton administration, representing a world very similar to the one of the conflict today. It also won the honorable mention for the UNESCO prize for Children’s Literature in the Service of Tolerance. The main character, a Palestinian named Samir, broke his knee falling off of a bike and has to stay in an Israeli hospital to await a specialist from America. The story is told in the first person and is also filled with remembrances of events from the past. At the beginning, Samir feels uncomfortable in the hospital, as the only Israelis he knows are the soldiers. This becomes evident when he meets his first male nurse and is surprised that he doesn’t look like a soldier, perhaps because he is smiling and nice. He remembers once asking his grandfather when watching news about battles in Yugoslavia which side was right, to which his grandfather replies, “you can be sure of one thing—everybody thinks he’s right." Though referring to a different battle, it can definitely be applied to the one in which he is surrounded. His father works as a barber, only his business doesn’t do well during the constant curfews; everyone has begun to cut their own hair, since none can work during curfews they don’t have the money for what is seen as a luxury. His acceptance with the other children in his room is jarred by one of the boys, Tzahi, who taunts him over his being Arabic, grinning at Samir’s fear when he learns that Tzahi’s brother is a soldier. It is Yonatan who is always trying to befriend him, talking to him about the stars when the lights have turned out. He is reminded of the trouble he normally lives in when his mother can’t come to visit him because the territories have been sealed off. He looks at his stay at the hospital as paradise—he has three meals a day, there are no raids, and when he hears a siren going by, it’s not a direct threat to him as it would be at home. In his moments of peace he wonders if this is how it always is for Jewish children and feels a sense of community with the other children. Here they are just kids, it doesn’t matter if they are Jewish or Arabic. However, it’s sad to hear a child say that you, “never know anymore where the bullet will find you… and you don’t know if it’s the soldiers, or the avengers, or soldiers pretending to be Arabs." We find out later that this is how his brother Fadi died, being shot by the soldiers when he couldn’t get away.
The story, though, is most about Samir’s coming to the realization that despite the war, and despite all of the tragic reminders of how difficult life is back home, they are all really the same. Yonatan tells him this scientifically at one point, “all of us here on earth are made of the same materials. We all contain water, carbon, calcium, iron, protein, and some other stuff." This is a story of hope for the next generation, as well as pointing to the necessity of Palestinians and Israelis coming into contact in everyday situations to encourage friendship as well as an understanding of the other’s point of view. This would be most appropriate for children from about third grade to middle school age.