A Child's View of Afghanistan

Note: I am currently enrolled in a children's resource class in my library program, and this past week we were discussing the promotion of global awareness through materials, including The Breadwinner. I generally try to keep my blog focused on the newest releases, but I also plan to write about any novels published in the last decade that are assigned in my classes. Occassionally, I might also write about older books if they're relatively obscure or recently republished.

The Breadwinner
by Deborah Ellis
Middle East Book Award 2002

Written in 2000 (and hence pre-9/11), The Breadwinner tells the story of eleven year-old Parvana, a girl growing up in an Afghanistan governed by the Taliban. Before the takeover by the Taliban, her mother was a journalist and her father a teacher. The family lived in a large house, owned a television, and sent their daughters to school. But with the regime change, women were forbidden to work or attend school. The numerous bombings have forced the family from their comfortable home into a one-room apartment in Kabul, and Parvana's father sells his services as a letter-writer or reader in the marketplace.

A few chapters into the book, Parvana's father is arrested. The only reason given is that he was educated in England. With the only male in the family being Parvana's two year-old brother, Ali, Parvana's mother decides that Parvana must disguise herself as a boy in order to support the family until her father's release from prison.

The reason this book seems to be admired is likely because it's one of few books for young readers to detail events in Afghanistan under the Taliban. The writing here is very straightforward, introducing the reader to the culture through the narrative, rather than in lengthy explanations. A short glossary in the back also helps to define some of the foreign words, such as burqa and karachi. While most children reading The Breadwinner are probably unfamiliar with Afghanistan outside of what they might hear on the news, Parvana's presentation as a normal kid will enable them to empathize with her struggle.

Interestingly, Islam is almost entirely absent from the narrative. I'm not sure if the intent here was to prevent the demonization of the religion, though, given when the book was written. Perhaps, instead Ms. Ellis simply didn't want the narrative to become mired in complex explanations of Islamic practices.

Given that Ms. Ellis only spent a few weeks in Afghanistan doing research before writing this novel, some people will complain that it lacks an authentic voice. The issue of authenticity is a complex one, and I will not get into it here. If you are interested in this issue, I highly recommend Malinda Lo's blog post. I will point out, however, that a very similar (albeit more depressing story) is told in the Afghan film Osama, so Ms. Ellis can't be totally off-base.

Grade: B+

The Black Creek Project

Shine
by Lauren Myracle

I devoured this book in one sitting about a week ago for my first book club meeting here in Pittsburgh. At least for the time being, our plan is to read buzz books for the upcoming Newbery and Printz awards, and this was a selection for the latter.

Cat is a sixteen year-old girl in a tiny North Carolina backwater. Her best friend, Patrick, is an effeminate loner who was raised by his grandmother (until her recent death). The book begins with a newspaper article detailing a horrible hate crime committed against Patrick in which he was knocked unconscious by a baseball bat and tied to the gas pump at the station where he worked as a clerk, a gas nozzle stuffed down his throat with a note reading "Suck on this faggot" nearby. He is in a coma, and the local police seem to be doing little to find the culprit. Cat decides to take matters into her own hands and solve the mystery.

Ms. Myracle did a good job in detailing what life in a rural Southern town is like: kids dropping out of school, teen pregnancies, drug abuse problems, bigotry. I particularly liked the ladies who attended church to gossip rather than worship, as well as the portrayal of a closeted athlete and his self-denial. The pacing was brisk, while still managing to tie up the various plot threads by the end, but the writing was just adequate.

My major qualm with this book is that the hate crime committed against Patrick is really just a vehicle to discuss the destructive power of drugs, namely meth. I was expecting an LGBT book, and this doesn't quite fit the bill. This is an anti-drug book. While I don't think the hate crime angle would have worked properly if Patrick hadn't been a gay character, I am rather bothered that he was used in such a degrading manner to tell a compelling story. It reminds me a bit of the "women in refrigerators" from 90's era comics.

Given its subject matter, I can understand why Shine was chosen as a buzz book. I do not feel, however, that it is worthy of winning the Printz medal, as the material could have been handled better by a more capable writer. I'll be the first to admit it's a good read, but this is of the page-turner best-seller variety, not the literary award variety.

Grade: B

New Town, New Possibilities

Okay for Now
by Gary D. Schmidt
National Book Award finalist 2011

The late 60's were a difficult time in which to grow up. Civil rights, the Vietnam War, the assassination of Robert Kennedy...These all made it increasingly difficult to navigate through childhood and adolescence. For Mr. Schmidt's protagonist, Doug Swieteck, add in being the new kid in town, and having an alcoholic father and a brother newly returned from the war. Life is far from easy for Doug.

After a local store is robbed (and the younger of Doug's two older brothers is suspected), Doug is either treated with contempt or ignored completely by his fellow classmates, teachers, and townspeople. The only people who give him a chance are Mr. Powell, the local librarian, and Lil Spicer, the daughter of the local grocer for whom Doug works as a delivery boy. Throughout the book, Doug's moods fluctuate wildly, depending on how he's being treated, which I found to be extremely realistic.

The other major story thread throughout the book concerns a copy of Audobon's bird prints, which are being auctioned off one by one to fund the library. As Doug learns how to draw with Mr. Powell each Saturday, copying the Audobon prints, he gradually becomes attached to the pieces and begins a crusade to return the sold prints to the library. In an age where government funding of libraries is being significantly decreased, as law-makers question the role of libraries in this digital age, it was wonderful to see Mr. Schmidt portray the library as a place of learning, and also for him to promote advocacy.

What I was probably most impressed with was Mr. Schmidt's ability to convey a broad range of emotions through simple text. Since our protagonist begins the book as an illiterate, the sentences are succinct and usually devoid of adjectives, yet they never seem to condescend to the intended audience.

There's a lot of buzz about this book at present, and a good many people are predicting a Newbery. I haven't read the other books that people are predicting will be nominated, so I can't say for certain if Okay for Now will win, but I can say that it's well worth a look.

Grade: A

P.S. I still don't know why the cover depicts a boy with a paper bag over his head.

"Chasing the summer I spent with you, I pass through the end of winter."

Forever
by Maggie Stiefvater

I previously reviewed The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy this spring and had been eagerly awaiting the final installment, which was slated for publication in July. As soon as I received proof of residency and was able to obtain my library card here, I put the book on reserve, with 42 people ahead of me. Last week, I received the e-mail stating it was on hold for me, and I picked it up on Thursday night, finding time to read it this weekend.

Was it worth the wait? Definitely. I have to admit, after reading Linger, I felt that Shiver would have been better served as a stand-alone novel. I didn't like the addition of new characters and the switch between POV each chapter, not to mention the mad science and the increasing implausibility of the entire scenario. While those things are still present in Forever (and the solution to the pack's problems feels like a total deus ex machina), Ms. Stiefvater's brilliant writing convinces even the most skeptical reader that certain actions are feasible.

Just as in Linger, the narrative is split four ways between Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole, who channels more of his mad scientist persona than his rock star one in this installment. While the trilogy predictably ends happily, there are some twists and turns along the way.

What I especially enjoyed with this installment was the writing of the wolves. It can be rather difficult to portray animal intelligence accurately, but I think Ms. Stiefvater hit the nail on the head.

While I stand by my earlier statement that the idea works best as a stand-alone, since the trilogy does exist, I wouldn't want its last installment to be any other way.

Grade: A-

*Note: The title of this post comes from the translated song lyrics of "Cloud 9", a song from the TV anime Wolf's Rain, which I highly recommend if you're looking for another wolf-related property, or simply a great show.

Still Alive, Still Reading

I realize that it likely seems as though I've completely abandoned this poor blog, but I assure you I have not. I meant to blog about the brilliant Gemma Doyle trilogy back in June, but I was sidetracked by Harry Potter, which I re-read in its entirety about a week and a half before the release of the final film (on that note, I will say that HP is much better spread out, as it gives one more time to savor the relationships between the characters). I've also been reading literature as of late (Sherlock Holmes), as well as textbooks for the upcoming fall semester of grad school. I will definitely try to be better about writing here in the coming weeks, but for now, please just know I am not dead.