The Turtle of Oman

Naomi Shihab Nye’s third novel, The Turtle of Oman details the week before Aref Al-Amri and his mother depart from their home in Muscat and travel to the United States, where they will be living for the next three years. As Aref contemplates this monumental change in his life, he relies on his grandfather’s guidance to come to terms with leaving his home and learns to embrace the adventures that await him beyond the boundaries of his country.

Nye is also the author of numerous poetry collections, including 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East (2002), You & Yours: Poems (2005), Transfer (2011), and The Tiny Journalist: Poems (2019). She has written one children’s book, Sitti’s Secrets (1994), and she has also penned three novels in addition to The Turtle of Oman: Habibi (1999), Going, Going (2005), and The Turtle of Michigan (2022). Nye has received a number of prizes and awards for her work as a writer and poet, including four Pushcart Prizes, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Paterson Poetry Prize. In 2013, she was named laureate of the 2013 NSK Neustadt Prize for Children’s Literature and was the Young People’s Poet Laureate for the Poetry Foundation between 2019 and 2021.

This study guide refers to the 2014 print edition published by Greenwillow Books.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with Aref Al-Amri and his mother dropping off his father at the airport, where he will depart for the US from their home in Muscat, Oman. Aref and his mom will join him in a week’s time, and his dad reminds him that he will discover many things in America. They will be in the US for three years while Aref’s parents earn their doctorates at a university in Michigan. Their family motto is “Discovering Something New Every Day” (7). After his dad boards the plane, Aref and his mother return home. Visitors, including two of Aref’s friends, come by to say goodbye to Aref and his mother. He gives each of his friends a stone from his collection. Aref tries to pack up his room and thinks about his reluctance to leave. He also reflects on the fact that his cousins will be moving in during his absence.

The next morning, Aref’s grandfather, Sidi, comes over. He and Aref go to the beach and talk about the fact that there are turtles in the ocean that they can’t see. Sidi tells Aref that people used to put candles on turtles’ backs because there were not lights throughout the city. Aref and Sidi write their names in the sand, and Sidi encourages Aref to collect special treasures to take with him. He gives Aref a rock to keep. Aref reflects on the idea that home is a place where people automatically feel comfortable.

That night, Aref thinks about the other students at his international school who came to Oman from different countries. He wishes that he had asked them about their experiences. The next day, Aref feels sad, and his mom arranges for Sidi to take him camping at the Night of a Thousand Stars camp. He starts to feel better as they drive through the mountains to get to the camp, which is in the desert. Aref thinks about how disconcerting it can be to arrive in a new place but decides that people can eventually settle into it.

At the camp, Sidi and Aref look at the stars, and Sidi tells Aref that he used to sleep on the roof of his home. Aref asks to do that too, and Sidi agrees that they’ll do it before he leaves. The next morning, a man named Jamal appears with a falcon on his shoulder. The falcon, Fil-Fil, is trained, and Jamal lets him climb onto Aref’s arm. Then, with a whistle, Fil-Fil takes off, landing when called by Jamal. Sidi compares Aref to the falcon, saying that he will fly off to the US but will eventually return. They leave the camp, and on the way home, Sidi stops at a beach, where they see turtles—Aref’s favorite animals—in the sand. Aref is amazed to learn that after the turtles hatch, they will someday return to the same beach. Sidi gives him a small stone, saying that it is just like a turtle egg.

Sidi drops Aref off at home. He tries to pack again but gets distracted. The next day, Sidi returns to pick up Aref to stay at his house for the next two days. At Sidi’s house, Aref receives a hat with a blue tassel that matches his father and Sidi’s hats. Aref worries that the children in America will make fun of his hat, but Sidi tells him that he should let them try it on. Later, Sidi and Aref go to a nearby beach, and Sidi asks one of the fishermen, Moussa, to take them for a boat ride. Moussa agrees, and Aref greatly enjoys being in the ocean and wonders if flying will feel similar. Sidi, on the other hand, gets seasick.

They return to Sidi’s and take a nap. That night, they go up to the roof and talk until they fall asleep. Sidi says that he’ll miss Aref. His admission surprises the boy because Sidi rarely expresses feelings of unhappiness. The next day, Aref returns home and begins to think about the methods that soccer players use to encourage themselves to be brave and win a match. He decides to be brave for his trip to the US. People continue to stop by and wish his family well on their journey.

Sidi comes over the following day to help Aref pack. When Aref asks him to tell a story, Sidi says that all the stories are contained in his pillow, which he bought for Aref when Aref was young. He suggests that Aref write a welcome note for his cousins, which he does. Sidi also writes him a note and puts it in his suitcase. That night, Sidi and Aref talk about the idea that love is a “strange animal” (293). Aref looks at the lights within his city and imagines his life in Michigan. He will keep Sidi’s note tucked under one of the many rocks that his grandfather gave him. He tells his mother that he is all packed.