Oranges in No Man’s Land

Elizabeth Laird's Oranges in No Man's Land is a powerful story for 10 year olds about a girl who crosses a city at war to save her granny.

What happens

Ayesha lives in Beirut. When she was born it was a lovely city, or so Granny says, with beaches and busy shops. Now it's split in half by a civil war and an invisible line nobody dares to cross.

Ayesha tells the story herself, looking back, and she starts with the saddest thing of all. You'll find it in the very first chapter, so it isn't a spoiler. Her mum stays behind to pack while the rest of them run, and a shell falls on their house.

Now Ayesha, her little brothers and Granny live in one corner of a bombed-out flat that once belonged to rich people. Families share every room, with sheets hung on strings between them. It's crowded and noisy and very kind. Mrs Zainab takes them in on the first night. Her daughter Samar is deaf, and she teaches Ayesha her sign language, cat's cradle and lots of clever games.

Then Granny falls ill. Her medicine has run out, and the only doctor who can help lives on the other side of the Green Line.

So Ayesha slips past the militiamen at the checkpoint and runs into no man's land in her flip-flops. What would you do, with everyone depending on you?

It's gripping, and it's told so simply. You feel every step of that run through the empty streets, past shops with no fronts and palm trees shot down to stumps. And the thing that gets her through the scariest moment is the friendship she didn't want at first. (We'll let your reader find out how.)

Worth knowing before you hand it over

Ayesha's mum dies in the first few pages, although nothing about it is described in detail. Later some armed men at a checkpoint grab her and frighten her badly before an old man steps in. It's a war story and it doesn't pretend otherwise.

A sensitive child, or one who has lost a parent, might find that very hard. If your reader is ready for a story about a real place and real courage, there's a lot of hope and goodness in it too, and it's a wonderful one to share.

What to read next

For another story about a child growing up with war right outside the door, try A Little Piece of Ground by the same author. Karim is twelve and lives in Ramallah, and all he wants is to play football on an empty patch of ground by his flats while his town is under curfew.