The Sunbird: Young readers’ edition

The Sunbird: Young readers’ edition by Sara Haddad, illustrated by Baraa Awoor (University of Queensland Press) PB RRP $14.99
ISBN 9780702271076

Reviewed by Kylie Buckley

In 2025, Nabila sits in the park with a young friend she met during recent marches for Palestine. She has promised curious 10-year-old Zane that she would share her ‘Nakba story’ (the 1948 mass displacement and dispossession of Palestinians). Nabila, now in her eighties, begins her story ‘Once upon a time, I was a little girl in Palestine, and everything was beautiful…’

Nabila recounts her early years living in a two-room stone-and-mud house in a small village. She was an inquisitive five-year-old and desperate to go to school; however, as she wasn’t yet old enough, she spent her days doing chores, dreaming, exploring the village, climbing olive trees, and playing with her animals. Her happiest memory was meeting Khalil, a boy her own age, someone she could play with.

One day, Nabila overheard talk about Palestine being divided and a new country to be formed within it. Young Nabila didn’t understand but sensed the unease. By June 1948, bombs started dropping, forcing families to flee their homes. Soon after, soldiers patrolled her village, making sure no one returned to their houses. Scared and confused, moving on foot through difficult terrain, Nabila and her family were forced out of their country with no place to go.

The Sunbird: Young readers’ edition has been adapted from Sara Haddad’s critically acclaimed debut adult novel. This middle-grade historical fiction novel is suitable for readers aged 9 years and older. Its themes include war, dispossession and displacement, resilience, belonging and cultural identity.