Book guide: Magic with Karam Nadjar
Would you like to learn how to cast spells?
Karam is great at trolling. He has trained all the way from Syria to Sweden. One day, his new friend Anna also wants to learn how to conjure. But Karam doesn't want that. A magician must not reveal his tricks.
Questions about the book
1. When the book begins, it is Karam's first day in class. How do you think it feels? Do you remember what the first day at your school felt like?
2. Karam has practiced conjuring with his mother while traveling from Syria to Sweden. Why do you think they left Syria?
3. Anna wants Karam to show how he does his magic tricks. Karam doesn't want that. Why doesn't he want that, do you think? How do you think Anna feels? How do you think Karam feels?
4. Karam thinks that Anna was good at learning the magic tricks. And he thinks he was a good teacher. What is something you are good at teaching?
5. What different languages can you speak? Have you ever learned a new language? How was it?
6. At school, some in the class put on a play. Karam does not understand what they are saying, but he still understands what the play is about. Why do you think he does it?
7. Karam fantasizes and dreams of standing on a stage and conjuring in front of an audience. Is there something you dream of doing?
8. In the book, Anna wears the same shirt every day. Why do you think she has it? Is there an item of clothing that you particularly like?
9. Karam feels that he will miss Anna and the class when he moves. Do you miss someone? How does it feel?
About friendship
Friendships between girls and boys occur all the time and are more common the younger the children involved. However, adults tend to encourage children to play in groups or with individuals of the same sex. What happens is often referred to based on gender aspects: "Here the girls are playing with xxx" which signals gender as the group's main common denominator. Adults also like to interpret games across gender lines based on the prevailing heteronorm. When two boys play together, adults rarely suggest that they are in love or that they should get married when they grow up. Calling the relationship love can also drive friends apart. Since society is based on the heteronorm, it is important to make more examples of both friendship and love visible. That girls can be friends with she, hen and he and be in love with other girls, boys, hen one or more pesrons and in the same way for boys.
About being a newcomer
Karam is a new arrival in Sweden. It obviously affects Karam's life a lot, just like experiences of flight, war and having to leave one's home and homeland do. But Karam is also a child in the moment and a child who, like the vast majority of children, has interests and dreams. It is unusual for books to depict the new context and everyday life of newly arrived children in Sweden. Books rarely have a focus other than the escape itself. It obviously also needs to be portrayed, but just as important is, for example, everyday life in a refugee accommodation, which is a matter of course for many children in Sweden today. Sorcery with Karam Nadjar gives Karam an identity beyond his status as a refugee. He has classmates, his strong will and his dreams of trolling. Things that all children can identify with.
