Summary: Author Elsa Marston is committed to helping create a better understanding of the Arab and Muslim worlds. She does that by writing about the lives of Arab teenagers. The source of her inspiration is her visits to the Middle East where she has strong family ties. In her stories she shows how the lives of Arab teenagers are different to those in the U.S. - and at the same time how similar they can be. With her husband coming from Lebanon, Marston has a close relationship to the Arab world. One of her trips to that region led her into a Palestinian refugee camp. ldquo;I saw how people were living, how they are managing to get along under terribly stressful conditionsrdquo;, Marston says. On a visit at a Palestinian refugee school run by the United Nations, she was stunned by her experience. Little boys were so proud of their ability to read in English that they were jumping out of their seats and begging their teacher to call on them. Marston explains, ldquo;I was just deeply touched by that because I saw that they still had enthusiasm for life. They still had hope that their lives might turn out right.rdquo; An Inspiration That gave her the idea for a story called ldquo;The Planrdquo; in which a young boy who still has hope and wants to make the world a little better by starting with his older brother who is looking for a woman in his life. This story is part of her book "Santa Claus in Baghdad and Other Stories about Teens in the Arab World." There is also a story of a young girl who sacrifices her own wants to do what she thinks is best for a teacher. In another tale a young boy wants to show his mother how much he loves her by preparing dinner for one night. Although her own teenage years were, as she puts it, ldquo;some time ago,rdquo; Marston did not have difficulties to write from the perspective of teenagers, at least of teenagers in the Arab world. ldquo;I cannot identify with a lot of the things going on in present American teenagersrsquo; livesrdquo;, she admits. ldquo;But because those things are not quite so present in the lives of teenagers in Arab countries it was easier for me to write about teenagers in the Arab societies.rdquo; In her opinion there is still much more parental control, much more expectations of good manners and proper behavior in these societies. Marstonrsquo;s stories have now made it to the classrooms, and she hopes they help to produce cultural and emotional bridges. She often receives positive feedback from the schools. ldquo;One teacher told me that his students were amazed to find that they could see similarities between their lives and the lives of the kids in the storiesrdquo;, she says. Another one told her that his students reading her stories felt sad and happy at the same time. Marston simply states, ldquo;That is what I hope for.rdquo;
