Ghady and Rawan: Epistolary Middle Grade Fiction with Heart

Ghady and Rawan, by Fatima Sharafeddine and Samar Mahfouz Barraj, trans. Sawad Hussain and M. Lynx Qualey (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, UT Austin, 2019, 129 pp, grades 7-9)

Ghady & Rawan is a sweet story about two Lebanese thirteen-year-olds, but their experiences resonate with me, the mother of a not-so-long-ago middle schooler in America. Ghady in Brussels and Rawan in Beirut each face their own struggles. Their e-mail correspondence and their local friendship circles sustain them through bullying, family troubles, prejudice, and the challenges of moving between worlds.

Ghady’s family lives in Brussels, Belgium, but he loves the summers they spend in Beirut with extended family and his friends, Rawan and Jad. Back in Brussels for his eighth grade year, Ghady discovers that his new friend, Thomas, has been hanging out with the class bully, Michael.

It’s a disheartening development that intensifies when Ghady learns that the problems encompass not only racial prejudice but drugs. Either confronting or reporting the situation seems likely to ramp up the persecution directed at him. Ghady’s e-mail correspondence with Rawan provides moral support and helps him sort through his options.

Rawan, meanwhile, is troubled by the tension between her parents and fears the dissolution of her family. The sudden appearance of anonymous gifts and messages, along with Ghady’s long-distance friendship, buoys her spirits. Both teens learn and grow through their struggles; in the process they discover their circle of friends is larger and stronger than they realized.

The book itself is the product of multiple collaborations. Authors Sharafeddine and Barraj have, between the two of them, published hundreds of books for young people that have been translated into multiple languages. Hussain and Qualey, both accomplished translators, have also collaborated on a YA science fiction novel reviewed here: I Want Golden Eyes.

This book reminded me of the collaborative Same Sun Here, narrated by pen pals Meena, an Indian immigrant living in NYC, and River, son of a coal miner in Kentucky (written by Silas House and Neela Vaswani, Candlewick, 2013, 304 pp, ages 10-12). The characters deal with different challenges, but long-distance friendship, cross-cultural situations, and the art of correspondence are distinctives of both books.