Two different novels with some similiraties

Since I had a problem with the my plugger account I merged the two responses in one, hope it will not take you very long to read!

If we all agree that literature is a reflection of particular people’s lives in a particular culture in some ways and at sometimes, then I feel that the books that I have read Chanda’s Secrets and Habibi/ My lover by Naomi Shihab Nye addressed the teenagers in southern Africa and in Palestine in a different way than that is used to reflect the teenagers in the US and some other countries.
The teen characters in Chanda’s Secrets for example, are different to a certain extent from those described in the article "Reviving Ophelia with Young Adult Literature" by Mary Ann Tighe. In that too much support is given by parents to their children. Parents are very connected to their children; keep teaching them life lessons to make them strong society members. Chanda’s mother who has been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS sacrifices all her life for the sake of her children. She married several men just to support her children financially after her first husband’s death.
It seems that the family relationships are very strong; every member in the family is working hard, in some way or another, to stay together as a family. Chanda’s best friend who is a teenager too was very responsible; she started to work as a night girl a trashy job just to support her family financially and to live together and not to be separated from each other after their parents’ death.
Chanda is a very responsible and strong girl who not only took care of her younger siblings but of her sick mother and best friend as well.
The survival of teen main character seemed very obvious in Chanda’s Secrets, many characters died in this story but not Chanda!
In Habibi novel the teenagers are also very connected to their parents and even to their grand parents. Parents are very engaged with their teen children, especially their father. Liyana and her brother Rafic share their problems with their parents and ask for their help when needed. Liyana’s mother is American but her dad is Palestinian, who was a physician in the US but he left his job and went back home to live close to his family. Although they were expecting to face some cultural difference when they move to Palestine yet they decided to go with their dad just because there is a strong bond between the children and their parents as well. When in Palestine, Liyana felt the need of having her father with her most of the time, as a mediator and a translator.
Although the main characters in both novels were girls yet they broke the stereotypes that “only” boys are strong and tough. Shanda was able to overcome all her family obstacle by her hard physical work. She was as strong as a rock. She could travel all by her self long distance to cure her sick mother.
Liyana in Habib was surrounded by those relatives who still believe that girls “only” should learn the house work skills. Her grand mother invited her to learn how to make bread from scratch. Liyana would question why her boy brother Rafik was encouraged to go to school and enjoy some boys’ sports.
Although liyanan was encouraged to learn house chores like cooking and cleaning, yet her brother Rafik, in his easy, described his sister that “she loves reading and walks around talking to herself” (Shihab, 1997, p.108). I do not know if it is true that girls like to read more than boys?