Kritik

One Day in Jerusalem in the Context of Suitability for Children

One Day in Jerusalem, whose subject matter is Jerusalem, is the first Turkish children's literature, which is the second book of "Turtle Battuta Diaries" series.

One Day in Jerusalem, whose subject matter is Jerusalem, is the first Turkish children's literature, which is the second book of "Turtle Battuta Diaries" series. In One Day in Jerusalem, written by Zeynep Sevde Paksu and illustrated by Sümeyye Eroğlu, we read the diaries of the traveler Turtle Battuta which tell his adventures, as in the case of the other books in the series. Turtle Battuta has taken his inspiration from Ibn Battuta, a friend of great grandfather, and describes his experiences for children. In the book, the crucial historical and religious places of Jerusalem are indicated along with his friend Haji Leylek and he tells about them in detail in his diary.

Sümeyye Eroğlu's colored drawings, which are suitable for children's sense of reality and of historical places, reflect the atmosphere of Jerusalem rather vividly. In addition, it is a valuable book due to its uniqueness and the sensitivity of its subject matter. On the other, because of its didactic language, which is present in the whole book, and the style, which exceeds the limits of humor, One Day in Jerusalem is challenging in the context of the principle of "suitability for the child", which is one of the basic requirements of children's literature. Yelda Kökçü says about the didactic language adopted in the children's books:

All literary works written to give information to the reader are called didactic. There are literary works written in every nation's literature to give information about morality, religion and technique ... It is suggested that the works to be read by the children should be educational texts that take moral values ??into consideration. However, a good children’s literature text should be more than a textual, educational work which contains only moral judgments. It needs to be created in its literary value and should have aesthetic pleasure and thoughts. (Kökçü, 1627) 

"Aesthetic pleasure and thoughts" are almost lost in didacticism in One Day in Jerusalem; the extreme level of information begins on the first page of the book. First, the reader encounters with the two big pages, which are full of the illustrations of the important places in Jerusalem, such as the Dome of the Rock, the Wailing Wall, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, On the following pages, Turtle Battuta visited these places one by one. Right after that, the information given to the reader continues with a "foreword" of Turtle Battuta. The tiny information notes that are placed usually in different parts of the pages, often in quotation marks, and that begins in the first page forewords, provide information to the reader about the narrator Ibn Battuta: "Ibn Battuta lived between the years of 1304-1368. He was born in Morocco and was on his way to go to the pilgrimage in the age of 22. Though his primary goal was to go to the pilgrimage, he liked traveling so much that he traveled for 28 years. He has been in many places such as Egypt, Iran, Africa, Istanbul, India, China, Maldives…”  (2); "The Patriarch is the name given to the religious leader of a Christian country" (23); "(...) "There are seven doors in total on the walls: Golden Gate, Nabi David Gate, Damascus Gate, Silvan Gate, Khalil Gate, Lion Gate and Zehra Gate. The most commonly used of these ones are the Damascus Gate and the Halil Gate."(29) Throughout the narrative, there are exactly 27 such small information notes placed at different points in the book. One day in Jerusalem, which has a structurally instructive content due to the fact that it is already a travel diary, becomes like a tourist guide because of all these extra information.

The second element that contributes to the didacticism is that the points are written in colorful and large size in order take attention of the reader. Historical places, people, cultural objects and architectural features mentioned throughout the book are written in colorful and bigger size. "Dome of the Rock" (7), "Garden of the al-Aqsa" (8), "Olive Oil Wrap" (18), "Constantine" (22) “David’s Tomb" (35) are just a few of these examples. After the narrator concentrates on these words, she describes each one of them in detail. "The bazaars are like the wardrobes of the cities" (20) is an example of colorful and large font sentences. A quote, motto or determination; whatever this sentence is called, coloring it with green to bring it into the foreground, does not add aesthetic or literary value to the book. This sentence does not address to children’s sense of reality, but an adult reader and these factors lead the text to be over didactic.

Another thing contradicting with the requirements of suitability for the child reader in One Day in Jerusalem is the style which exceeds the limits of humor standards. The funny items were also colored and brought to the foreground as it is the case for didactic elements. Speaking of storks, the narrator says "they take a vacation for free for all their lives" (4) and the words "they are making free vacations" is coloured. In the same page, Turtle Battuta says "my hotel is on my back" when he speaks of himself. Because the stork went to pilgrimage, he took the nickname "the pilgrim stork" (4) and all these humorous pieces were colored. Immediately afterward, another humor made by Turtle Battuta, who travels on the back of the stork, emerges: "My pilgrim stork brother, can I get off in a convenient place." (32) Aside from the fact that whether these words make the narrative funny or not, the effort of bringing these elements to the foreground by coloring them makes the humor "unnecessary".

When we look at the other uncolored and unfocused humor elements, there is another problem with regard to style:

"Even your grandkids wear this shoe because it is so strong," he said.

"Uncle, there is too much time until that time. If there's a smart and beautiful turtle lady around here, I would like to meet her." (21)

The fact that the topic of "marriage" is included in a children’s book in this way and the criteria of intelligence and beauty in the selection of a "lady" is used as humor elements in it causes problems. It is because that these subjects are not a comedy item for children at seven-age and over.

In another example, Turtle Battuta goes to the house of Aunt Latife whom he met in Masjid al-Aqsa and tastes the local delicacies she prepared. Again, two of the many examples of the "comedy", which does not fit in the style of the children's book, come out in this passage:

"(...) I noticed that I ate a bagel which is like a head and a bowl of olive oil" (18)

"No, what should I do Aunt Latife, should I eat your home to show that I like it?" (19)

The analogy of the bagel and “big as a head” are not funny but slang; against the insistence of Aunt Latife, what Turtle Battuta says is not warm or sincere; it is vulgar. Hence, the comedy in the narrative has gained an unnecessary expression and has exceeded the limits of humor standards.

I think that One Day in Jerusalem is, in fact, the first and only in Turkish children's literature and that the historical and religious figures handled are quite precious with the choice of places. However, because of the fact that it is a travel diary, the teaching materials which are already in its content have been brought to the foreground by being supported by other elements, and the text has become a very didactic one. However, when the elements used as comedy items were considered inappropriate for children's sense of reality, it might be said that One Day in Jerusalem is not a book for children, but for adults who can read it with pleasure.

 

Bibliography

Kökçü, Yelda. “İlk Dönem Çocuk Şiir Kitaplarının Biçim ve İçerik Açısından Karşılaştırılması”. Teke Uluslararası

Türkçe Edebiyat Kültür Eğitim Dergisi (2015): 1617-1638.

Paksu, Zeynep Sevde. Kudüs’te Bir Gün. İstanbul: Profil Çocuk, 2016.