by Ekram Abdelgawad

After reading Thunderbird 2 and Soul Lanterns, I realized that the protagonists, Noor and Nozomi, have things in common. They are almost the same age. They are girls who care about their communities. They suffered losses and aspired for love and affection from people around them. They are kind, smart and willing to do things to make a difference. There must be some characteristics of a girl that is destined to save the world. I think Noor and Nozomi have them. 

Thunderbird Book Two

“a giant bird, Jerusalem without walls, a ring, a girl who looked like her. She couldn’t connect all these things in any way that made sense”.

The book starts with Noor waking up to find herself lying on her side somewhere in Jerusalem.

Where did Noor come from? What brought her here? 

I will let Noor tell what happened in book one of the Trilogy: “When I was eleven years old, my parents died, and I was sent to live at my uncle’s house. That was when I learned I could start fires. I mean, I have the power to control fire with my mind, just by thinking about it. … Before my grandmother died, she gave me an old ring. At the time, I didn’t understand how important it was. Then I met a djinn named Sabeeka, who takes the shape of a black cat… The djinn told me that there’s an invisible barrier between the human world and the world where djinn and other creatures live. …the wall is going to collapse if I don’t find four feathers from a thunderbird in the moment before it burns. And, if the wall collapses, there will be total chaos. … But the thunderbird burns only once every five hundred years, more or less, and that means I have to travel back in time five hundred years whenever I search for a feather.”

In Thunderbird 2, Noor was found by two young men: Khalid and Hana. They thought she was a spy for the enemies. What enemies? Noor had gone back another 500 years in time, actually 339 years to find the second feather. She is now in the time of the Crusades. The two led her blindfolded and handcuffed to a cave that looks like a miniature city where people of Jerusalem hid from the Crusaders.

Noor has seen a girl in the cave that was her image in water, her name was Zainab. The three friends: Khalid, Hana and Zainab wanted to know the story behind Noor.  Yet, what is the story behind Khalid, Hana and Zainab?   

Some events related to the Crusades’ era came to the surface such as Saladin and his battles with the Crusaders. Khalid, Hana, Zainab may have roles to play in some of these events.  Will Noor take part in these events?

Will Khalid, Hana, Zainab along with Sabeeka help Noor find the second feather in order to save the world?

Soul Lanterns

“Once their flames are lit, they begin to glow as if they’re alive. … the lanterns and souls roll along together.” 

Nozomi lived with grandmother, her mother and her younger brother in Hiroshima. Her father worked in New Zealand. On the 25^th anniversary of the Atomic Bomb, during Lantern Floating Ceremony Nozomi’s grandmother floated two lanterns for her deceased young daughters: Yoshiko and Kyoko. Nozomi’s mother had two lanterns: the green one had a name while the white one had none. What was the story behind that nameless lantern?

“In the morning of the atomic bomb, more than seventy thousand people were lost in an instant. … “ those people truly just ‘vanished’. Nozomi found it difficult to believe. Many others felt the same way that was why people were still looking for loved ones after all these years.

One young lady had vanished, nothing remained from her to be buried but a comb! She was Satoko, Mr. Yoshioka’s fiancée. Mr. Yoshioka is Nozomi’s art teacher at school. Other times, there were only bones as in the case of Kozo’s aunt. Kozo is Nozomi’s classmate. “There were all sorts of other things people buried when no bones were found ….”

The art club at school prepared for the Fall cultural festival under the theme: Hiroshima: Then and now. The theme was suggested by Nozomi and Shun her classmate. Many people of the bombing’s first generation didn’t share their experiences with the following generation. That’s why Nozomi, Shun, Kozo wanted to draw paintings of those who were lost. 

Will Nozomi and her classmates manage to make those who lost their beloved ones pour their hearts out and tell their stories to let go of their grievances? 

Noor and Nozomi are girls whose hearts are as big as their worlds; however, they can’t save the world by their own. One girl to save the world with her friends’ support. 

I recommend both books to girls who have the courage to seek to save their world and to those who have the hearts to believe in them. 

Meet Ekram Abdelgawad

Ekram Abdelgawad holds a PhD in translation of children’s literature with first honours, English Department, Faculty of Arts, Sohag University, Egypt, 2018. She taught English as a foreign language to children in Egypt for 16 years. She was an English lecturer at King Khalid University, Saudi Arabia for five years. She taught translation at Faculty of Languages and Translation, Pharos University in Alexandria, Egypt (2020 – 2022). She is currently an independent researcher in translation of children’s literature and freelance translator of children’s literature (English/Arabic). Her fields of interest are translation of children’s literature, translation studies, translation theories, and Arabic language.