As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Zoulfa Katouh
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow
Zoulfa Katouh
Little Brown Books for Young Readers
Salama Kassab is stuck between wanting to stay in revolutionary Syria and wanting to leave to ensure the safety of her pregnant sister-in-law. During the day, Salama runs triage at the hospital, taking care of the wounded and injured. She also is visited by Khawf, her fear personified. At night, she cares for her sister-in-law and dreams of peace for the country and the boy she loves.
Content Warnings: Death of a child, Attempted sexual assault, PTSD, War, Starvation
Discussion Questions
Vocabulary & Teaching Resources
Video content
Publisher Content & Publicity
Classroom Connections
This novel shows the experience of a person in Syria trying live during the bombing and trying to decide whether to become a refugee or not.
It would be good in a 9th or 10th grade classroom as a companion to Refugee by Alan Gratz.
This would be a good novel for a psychology class to talk about PTSD and grief.
Zoulfa Katouh
Author
https://www.zoulfakatouh.com/
Zoulfa Katouh is the only person in her family who can’t roll her tongue, but that’s okay because she writes characters who can do so. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy and is currently pursuing her master’s degree in Drug Sciences. She is trilingual in English, Arabic and German. Zoulfa currently resides in Switzerland where she finds inspiration in the Studio Ghibli picturesque scenery.
Ever since her Mama gave her a copy of Anne of Green Gables when she was eight years old, she discovered the beauty of books. Soon enough she was sneaking books under her school desk to read while teachers went on about Math and Physics. Her imagination grew, and one day, she had the courage to pen down the stories that roam her mind. And she never stopped!
One of her many dreams is to get Kim Nam-joon to read one of her books.
Her speculative contemporary YA debut AS LONG AS THE LEMON TREES GROW is published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Bloomsbury, making her the first Syrian YA author to be published in the US and UK.
She is represented by Alexandra Levick at Writers House.
Companion Books
