Nahum Gutman

Path of the Orange Peels was an IBBY Honour Book in 1962
Tel Aviv was founded by the Jewish community in 1909, close to the port of Yaffo which was one of the entry points for Jewish immigration to Palestine. In 1917 the ruling Ottomans expelled all Jews from Tel Aviv and Yaffo, around 10,000 Jews were forced to leave their homes and were only able to return once the British forces had ousted the Turks from Palestine. During this time the small settlement of Tel Aviv was totally empty apart from a token few members of a guard force left to protect the property.
15 year old Nahum is with his grandmother in Petah-Tikva but the conditions are tough and the deportees have no food or money left. So when the local marketplace comes under fire and there is also a risk from the Turks who are looking for young men to serve in their army, his grandmother insists that the time is right for him to make a dash across the battlefield back to Tel Aviv which is now in British control. Along the way Nahum joins up with a brave young man on a secret mission and following the orange peel markers through the fighting zone.
This was a captivating story and Gutman, a major Israeli artist, has filled it with humorous illustrations and side notes. I knew little about the expulsion of Jews at this time in the city's history and found this story most interesting from the historical perspective.… (altro)