I Am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced

The Prologue serves as an introduction to the setting of Nujood’s tale, the country of Yemen. Minoui writes about Yemen as a mythical place full of magic, mystery, and history. She relates that Yemen is located at the southernmost tip of the Arabian Peninsula and that it touches the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Along with the name Yemen, “a very long time ago, grown-ups gave it another name: Arabia Felix, Happy Arabia. For Yemen inspires dreams” (7). Yemen is portrayed as both a tangible place and an idea.

Minoui contrasts Yemen’s rich and colorful history, which includes figures like the Queen of Sheba, pirates, and ancient trade routes that carried countless caravans, with its bleak modern history. She notes that various invaders have tried to control Yemen in the past, referring to the country as “a cake fought over by greedy children” (9), in order to gain access to its oil, music, honey, pottery, and food.

Yemen’s contemporary history is portrayed as bleak. Minoui writes that, since the invaders have left, the country has succumbed to a series of civil wars “too complicated for the pages of children’s books” (9). Despite the fact that the country was unified in 1990, it is still trying to recover from the wounds of war.