Zamzam
Picture Book / Egypt / Cairo / Ages 4-8
Reycraft Book
October 30, 2024
Zamzam divides his time between his grandparents homes in New York City (United States) and Alexandria, Egypt. While the two places are different in terms of sights, sounds, and flavors, they share much in common. But the most important thing they share is family love.
What can bring together two sets of grandparents from different cultures set thousands of miles apart? Many things, it turns out, but especially their shared love for one young boy and the same moon they all see at night. Zamzam lives in both New York City, USA, and in Alexandria, Egypt, where each of his pairs of grandparents reside. He goes to sleep and wakes up to greet his grandparents in each place; he sees the cityscape of each place outside his bedroom window. He goes on excursions with a grandparent in each setting and eats food with them. He participates in routines—playing instruments and reading books—in each place. He conveys his love for them through pictures he draws for them and sharing kisses with them. The way he describes his daily experiences in both cultures and draws comparisons between them shows both their uniqueness (language, geography, landmarks, food) and commonality (urban setting, taxis, special activities with grandparents, and love for each other). Moreover, the natural way in which Zamzam views and interacts with these experiences shows that he is comfortable in both settings and treats them as normal and routine, places where he stays regularly.
The cultural representations are subtle and natural, portrayed through text and illustration. While both settings are urban, depicting crowded buildings and honking taxis, New York has skyscrapers and Alexandria has tall towers on the tops of mosques. In New York, Zamzam sometimes hears church bells, but in Alexandria there are sounds of praying called by the muezzin. In Alexandria, Zamzam’s grandparents speak Arabic, and in New York, they speak English. In Alexandria, Zamzam goes to visit the pyramids in Cairo with his Gedu (grandfather), where they ride camels; in New York, his grandma takes him to Central Park, where Zamzam rides a carousel horse. (Interestingly, no activities with his New York grandpa are represented.) He eats a peanut butter and jelly sandwich his New York grandma prepares (no “leafs,” please!) and pita bread with feta cheese and tomatoes with his Gedetti (grandmother) in Alexandria. When he listens to a story/hadota with each grandmother, the texts they read go left to right in English and right to left in Arabic. The skin tones of Zamzam’s grandparents are varied, but their clothing is similar. (The only traditional Egyptian clothing depicted is for the camel guide and for some of the women at the market where Zamzam shops with Gedetti.) The vibrant collage illustrations provide contrasting colors for each setting: warm browns, golds, and sandy hues for Alexandria; cool blues and greys for New York. The paper textures (taken from ones that Roth collected from all over the world, including many from Egypt) are also varied and complement each setting well.
This beautiful picture book is well-deserving of the 2025 Children’s Africana Book Award for Best Picture Book it received. It has heartwarming themes of family love and the kinds of everyday traditions that bind loved ones together no matter how far apart they are from each other physically. The two locations are given balanced treatment in both text and illustration, with the front and back covers reversing positions of each setting, so that both are equally prominent. Overall, it depicts in a matter-of-fact way the real lives of many children today whose families and lives are spread across distant locations and varied cultures, a timely message for all readers. The addition of a map showing the locations of New York and Alexandria, notes from both author and illustrator, and biographical information about them should enhance children’s engagement with this striking book.
Reviewed by: Barbara A. Lehman, Ed. D.
Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University
Published in Africa Access Review (September 10, 2025)
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