A Bottle in the Gaza Sea, By Valerie Zenatti

Zenatti, Valerie. A Bottle in the Gaza Sea. New York: Bloomsbury, 2005.

            This young adult novel tells the story of Tal Levine, a seventeen-year-old Israeli-Jewish girl living in Jerusalem in 2003. Tal’s family members are staunch supporters of Israeli-Palestinian peace agreements and have proclaimed this non-violent message to Tal and her brother since childhood. After Jerusalem experiences a wave of Palestinian suicide bombings, Tal hopes to forge something positive out of the devastation that encompasses the lives of both groups by attempting communication with a Palestinian on the Gaza Strip. Writing a letter, putting it in a bottle, and instructing her brother (currently stationed as a soldier on the Gaza Strip) to throw it into the sea, Tal ignites an exchange of communication that will leave profound effects on each party. While Tal believes her recipient will be a Palestinian girl from whom she can gain some sort of understanding, the bottle instead lands in the hands of a twenty-year-old Palestinian man, thwarting Tal’s expectations.

            This novel succeeds as a multicultural young adult text by not only emphasizing the difficulty of peace and mutual understanding in a time of ethnic-religious crisis, (a theme easily connectable to other modern-day violence) but also includes both a female and male as protagonists. Each protagonist deals with specific, unique problems; therefore, it is appealing to an entire middle school classroom. A significant portion of the novel includes reflections by each protagonist attempting to deal with the immense hatred and violence that encompasses their respective communities. These can be especially powerful and moving, prompting interdisciplinary discussions regarding social justice and ethnic-religious conflict.

            The novel is 150 pages long – a perfect length for students and teacher to take adequate time addressing all elements of the book. Furthermore, the majority of the novel is in e-mail or instant-messaging form, which is undoubtedly more relatable to students than the typical novel format. My only qualm with the teachability of the novel would be how to deal the extremely complex Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There would absolutely need to be some sort of thematic details pre-taught; otherwise, students would have no conception of what the two characters are struggling with. As this conflict continues to affect modern-day Israel, the teacher would need to outline the extent to which they would cover the origin and details of the violence.