Aramco Expats

Kids' Book Aims to Link Cultures

1. Community
2. Aramco Brats

Author: Saudi Aramco Dimensions
Released 7 September 2006

Sarah and Elizabeth Spalding share a moment with Dahman, an Arabian gelding that is the namesake of a children’s book the teenagers wrote.

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia — Local 17-year-old twins Sarah and Elizabeth Spalding describe this storied oil town just inland from the Arabian Gulf as an “in-between kind of world.”

An oasis of greenery in a barren, dusty desert area typical of the Muslim Kingdom’s Eastern Province, this tidy, leafy, lawn-carpeted community of 12,000 where the Spaldings grew up is designed like a typical middle-class suburban enclave in the American Southwest.

It’s neither distinctively Saudi nor Western but a unique melding of the two. Residents here are any of more than 50 nationalities, so there is also a complex cosmopolitan flavor to the Dhahran lifestyle.

“And we decided on a mystery,” Elizabeth said, “because I’ve always enjoyed mysteries.” Plus, they both wanted to create something fun and exciting.

The Spalding family owns two horses, and living in the stall next to their steeds is the book’s namesake, an aging but still-gorgeous gelding named Dahman, so the girls have a natural affinity for horses. They believed a love of horses would be a perfect bridge to link a story between two cultures.

Thus was born Dahman: Mystery of the Champion Arabian Horse, the twins’ first book — written by them in English and Arabic (with translation help from Fatima Al-Malak, their former Arabic teacher at Dhahran Middle School) and featuring illustrations painted by them.

The book’s plot involves a champion Arabian stallion who is stricken by a serious, mysterious illness that threatens his planned entry in a big competition, and the two protagonists — an American girl named Elizabeth and a Saudi girl named Sara — cooperate to solve the mystery and save the day.

According to the authors, the writing took about two months, but the illustrations took significantly longer. The entire process — from initial concept to finished manuscript — took about 18 months. The twins completed most of the labor on vacations and holidays in Saudi Arabia.

After the manuscript and illustrations were completed, the girls pitched their idea to Saudi Aramco, which liked the concept and agreed to provide editing support, buy copies and help the authors coordinate printing with a local publishing house. Ultimately, Saudi-based Al-Mutawa Press printed the initial press run of 11,000 copies, which were earmarked for several international and Saudi girls’ schools in the Kingdom, as well as Saudi Aramco schools located in company communities in the Eastern Province, including Dhahran. Copies also went to schools in Bahrain, Cairo, Beirut, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. A second printing of 1,000 books is earmarked for the United States and Jordan. Books are also available directly from the authors by e-mail (sarahspalding@gmail.com and elizabethspalding@gmail.com).

Sarah and Elizabeth visited Saudi elementary schools to promote their book and its theme of cultural understanding. Here they enjoy a moment with young students at the Ahliyya School in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

Sarah and Elizabeth plan to promote the book in Saudi Arabia and the United States, and they hope the process will help further bridge gaps and increase understanding between the two cultures. This year, they were scheduled to visit suburban elementary schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Houston, Texas; and New England in the United States, to teach American schoolchildren more about Saudi Arabia.

The book was sold at the World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies held June 12–16 in Amman, Jordan. The book will be released in the United Kingdom through a publisher there, and talks are under way with two U.S. publishers for publication in America next winter.

As part of an independent senior high-school project at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire, in the United States, Sarah and Elizabeth are writing a second book, whose working title is The Mystery of the Royal Falcon. The young authors hope to continue the mystery series beyond their debut book because they’ve been told by Saudi educators that there is a need for stories in Arabic that are colorful and fun to read and feature heroic young girls. In addition, the books introduce to Western children Middle Eastern icons — such as the Arabian horse and hunting falcons — and open a window into the lives of children in Saudi Arabia.

After their high-school graduation, the twins plan to attend college and dual-major in International Studies and Near Eastern Studies/Arabic. Eventually, they hope to earn master’s and law degrees and work internationally in business and law, respectively, using their Arabic skills professionally.

The twins have a history of laboring to bridge cultures. When they were sixth-graders in Dhahran, they successfully petitioned the school to add Arabic instruction to the curriculum, which then offered only French and Spanish as foreign languages.

Growing up as expatriate kids in Saudi Arabia, surrounded by a veritable United Nations of nationalities and customs, the Spalding twins understand the unique problems and opportunities of circulating among people of different cultures.

When they first arrived at St. Paul’s School from their desert hometown, they felt like Americans and thought they knew all about being American. However, they soon found themselves perplexed by the jokes of their peers. A course in American culture, including lots of movies, brought them up to speed, they said.

They said they hope their book will help others avoid some of the jarring cultural whiplash in an increasingly smaller world — as well as to build accord and offer insights into other worlds.