Dust Turns to Hope for an Afghan Girl

Reedy, Trent. Words in the Dust. Scholastic, 2011.

Dusty scenes of strife-filled Afghanistan have blanketed computer and TV screens in the last decade. But what do we know of the actual people whose lives have been warped by the Taliban?

Meet Zulaikha, a 13 year-old Afghan girl whose opportunities are constrained not only by fear, customs, and oppression, but also by her cleft lip. For Zulaikha, a mundane trip to the market can mean fresh torture, as at any moment she might hear a local bully’s dreaded cry of “Donkeyface!” Even at home she meets with harsh treatment, especially from her younger brother. How can she hope for a better life? Her sister, the only one with whom she can share her feelings, will soon marry and move out. That will leave Zulaikha with all the chores and, as her stepmother reminds her, little chance of her own husband and home. If only she could learn to read and write as her mother did … but that, too, seems impossible.

Words in the Dust, the debut novel by Trent Reedy, provides an eye-opening view of life in contemporary Afghanistan, particularly as experienced by women. Reedy’s perspective was hard won. When he was nearing the end of his six-year term in the National Guard, he was called to active duty in Afghanistan in 2004. He and his unit encountered a girl named Zulaikha who had a severe cleft lip, and arranged to have an army doctor perform the much-needed surgery.

Yet Reedy has not created some trite, reassuring made-for-TV story. As the plot unfolds, cultures clash, as when the American doctor unknowingly insults Zulaikha’s father, and the girl almost misses her chance at the surgery she so desperately wants. Most moving, though, is the gender-related conflict in Afghan society, as females encounter a web of sexist restrictions. Zulaihka finds she will need more than a pretty face to thrive in her harsh environment. She needs a mentor, a wise woman who will help her develop her intellect. When she stumbles upon that person, events unfold that bring her closer to her stepmother and to the mother who was killed by the Taliban for daring to read books of poetry.

Reedy is donating a portion of his royalties to Women for Afghan Women, an organization working for education and humans rights for women.

Complemented by a glossary, author’s notes, and recommended titles for further reading, this novel will provide a rich and rewarding reading experience for ages 11 and older. Note: Scholastic sent me a free advance copy of this novel, for which I am grateful. I have offered my genuine opinions of the book, as always.

For younger children, turn to Greg Mortenson’s Listen to the Wind: The Story of Dr. Greg and Three Cups of Tea.

Related Articles

• Afghan women are still at risk | Ivan Simonovic (guardian.co.uk)

Women Rock the World

To get an idea of the fantastic resources exploring women’s crucial contributions to society, take a look at KidLit Celebrates Women’s History Month, a month-long blogging collaboration hosted by The Fourth Musketeer , a library science student, and Shelf-Employed, a children’s librarian. The site features thirty bloggers and authors from across the kidlitosphere. I am happy to be a part of this project; on March 22, look for my post on the unique children’s book author/illustrator Wanda Gág.

Last week, I featured Frances Hodgson Burnett, the author of my favorite novel for children. Today I’ll highlight five inspiring picture-book biographies that won a place on the 2011 Amelia Bloomer list.

Annino, Jan Godown. She Sang Promise: The Story of Betty Mae Jumper, Seminole Tribal Leader. Illus. by Lisa Desimini. National Geographic, 2010.

Ages 8-12. In an era when many of her people lived “under cabbage palm roofs, without clean water or electricity” and did not understand English, Betty Mae Jumper became the first woman to be elected as a tribal leader of the Florida Seminole Tribe. She surmounted a barrel of obstacles  to become educated and to train as a nurse. After she received her nursing degree, she chose to return to her people, even though the pay was so low she had to supplement it by selling crafts and, occasionally, by wrestling alligators. She helped start the Seminole Indian News and served as an interpreter in courtrooms and emergency rooms. Annino’s respectful, nature-filled free verse is enhanced by the lush, saturated colors of Desimini’s illustrations. Included are an afterword by Jumper’s son, a map, chronology, glossary, blibliography,  and author’s notes. This fine biography will enhance units on Native Americans or women leaders.

Johnson, Jen Cullerton. Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace. Illus. by Sonia Lynn Sadler. 2010. Lee & Low. Ages 6-10.
What a marvel this little biography is: visually striking and quivering with sensual details and a sense of hope and respect for all living things.We see young Wangari and her mother eating sweet figs, just as the monkeys and an elephant are doing. The Kikuyu people of Kenya, we learn, believe their ancestors rest in the tree’s shade, so Wangari promises never to cut down the tree. While few girls in her village learn to read, Wangari’s parents respond to their daughter’s desire to learn, and arrange for her to go to the local school. At age 11, however, she can advance no more. To continue, she must move to the big city of Nairobi. From there, she goes the U.S. to major in biology. When Wangari decides to return home, she finds a world out of balance. Because the government has sold much land to big foreign companies, the forest habitat has dwindled, and native cedar and acacia trees have vanished. The people of her village have abandoned their custom of not cutting down the mugumo (spreading fig trees). Erosion has caused soil to stream into the rivers. Crops are drying out, and people are hungry. Wangari’s seed of an idea will bring the community together and restore the ecology of the land. Sadler’s lush oil and scratchboard illustrations show the belts of green saplings planted by the women. After being arrested by corrupt police officers, Wangari gets out and takes her case to the world. The woman called Mama Miti, mother of trees, helped get 30 million trees planted, making for cleaner rivers, abundant fruit, and healthy crops. She won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, the first African to do so. Seeds of Change is a great story to include in units on ecology, peacemakers, Kenya, or outstanding women. A brief biographical note and sources are included.

Napoli, Donna Jo. Mama Miti: Wangari Maathai and the Trees of Kenya. Illus. by Kadir Nelson. Simon & Schuster, 2010. Ages 5-8.
Napoli employs simple, engaging words and images to tell the story of Wangari Maathai. The source of her wisdom, the author notes, sprang from the stories she heard from the village elders. This biography centers on the role of the community; the land was transformed tree by tree, woman by woman by woman. Nelson captures this aspect with his large, layered images of oil and printed fabrics. Each time Wangari gives a woman a sapling, she tells her, “Peace, my people.” The restoration of the environment takes place alongside the renewal of a strong and peaceful nation. “A green belt of peace started with one good woman offering something we can all do: Plant a tree.” Napoli includes an afterward on Maathai’s life, a Kikuyu glossary, an author’s note with sources, and an illustrator’s note.

Pinkney, Andrea Davis and Brian Pinkney. Sojourner Truth’s Step-Stomp Stride. Disney/Jump at the Sun, 2009.  Ages 6-10.
This dynamic husband-and-wife team has crafted a lively yet sensitive biography of Sojourner Truth, whose slave name was Isabella. She was a big, bold, beautiful woman who booted out her slave name and chose the more evocative one, Sojourner Truth. Andrea Davis Pinkney uses a lively, conversational tone as she traces Truth’s early enslavement and separation from her family, her escape, her abiding religious faith, and how she came to tell her life story to the abolitionist Olive Gilbert. Truth traveled extensively, speaking for the causes of freedom and women’s rights. The author quotes from Truth’s famous “Ain’t I a Woman?” speech — modulated by a “Bam!” from her strong fists. Brian Pinkney’s energetic dry-brush lines and earthy watercolors match Truth’s feisty spirit. Author’s note and bibliography are included.

Winter, Jonah. Sonia Sotomayor: A Judge Grows in Brooklyn/ La Juez Crecio en el Bronx. [bilingual] Illus. by Edel Rodriguez. Atheneum, 2009. Ages 6-10.
The glow of a loving family infuses this story of how Sonia Sotomayor excels at school, becomes a stellar lawyer, and then a Supreme Court justice. The reader gets a sense of the obstacles she had to overcome and the culture shock she experienced at Princeton, where she heard crickets for the first time. She couldn’t help but wonder, “Where were the subways? Where was the merengue music? Where were the people who looked like her?” It was in college that she first felt inferior and self-consciously Latina. But she did not let this deter her from her goal. She read voraciously, graduated at the top of her class, and became the court’s first Latin American judge, distinguished not only by her outstanding record but by her life experience as one who knew poverty and prejudice firsthand. The warm, sprightly illustrations, done in pastel, acrylic, spray paint and oils, provide a pleasing match to Sotomayor’s optimistic approach. Additional details and an author’s note are included, and the Spanish translation allows for multiple curricular uses for this engaging biography.

A Garden for All Time

Image via Wikipedia

Has a novel ever taken root in your dreams?  The most deeply felt, refreshing dreams I’ve experienced had their origins in The Secret Garden, published in the U.S. a century ago. With this unforgettable novel, Frances Hodgson Burnett explored the possibilities for children’s literature to illuminate the landscape spanning the inner, psychological world and the world of nature.

The chiaroscuro of the novel reflects the world of dreams and the bewildering experiences of any child. The protagonist, Mary Lennox, first lives in India, surrounded by luxury but neglected by her self-absorbed parents. Even this shabby semblance of an upbringing unravels when a cholera epidemic wipes out the household. How did Mary manage to survive? The reader sees the ten-year-old girl hiding out in her nursery, as outside, quietness descends, broken only by the sound of a small, rustling snake. At last, cross and hungry, Mary emerges from her room, wondering “Why does nobody come?”  And then she discovers she is an orphan. There it is: the unspoken but universal fear of abandonment, peering at you from the surly, unloved face of Mary Lennox.

In a gray rainstorm, Mary makes the arduous journey to England, a country she’s never seen, and to an uncle she has never met. What kind of welcome awaits her? Mrs. Medlock, the housekeeper, describes “a house with a hundred rooms, nearly all shut up and with their doors locked – a house on the edge of a moor …” Mary’s uncle, she added, had a crooked back and kept to himself. The bleak, windswept setting reflects the girl’s dreary state of mind.

And what of the reader’s inner landscape? Burnett’s image of the home’s infinite rooms is one that has visited many of my dreams; in fact, it is one of my favorites and has revealed itself in various incarnations. Some nights, I find myself climbing a dark, winding staircase to reach an unexplored room that beams with light from a bank of windows overlooking a forest. Other times, the dream takes me to a small, snug room with a rough old table, hand-carved alphabet blocks spread upon it.

My dreams have connected the home of infinite rooms to the secret garden, the place where Mary will undergo a gradual and powerful transformation, both magical and real. The garden – like the house – like the child – has been locked up and overlooked. The uncle shut it up after his young wife fell to her death there years ago. It seems lifeless when Mary first discovers it, thanks to an attentive robin that helps her find the buried key. And yet … in reality it is just waiting for attention, for care, for people to restore its beauty. Mary, like Sleeping Beauty, will awake and grow and experience joy in that safe, hidden place — and will bring Collin, her uncle’s neglected son, into that larger world, and even his father.

The solitary darkness of Mary’s world shifts to one of light, laughter, companionship, and verdant life. One cannot help but feel: If Mary Lennox can discover a way out of despair, so can I. This message of hope is waiting for someone today. As winter wanes, perhaps you will choose to seize this time to share this treasure with a child. Who knows what dreams will grow from it?

For children too young for The Secret Garden (recommended for 8-11) , consider The Curious Garden by Peter Brown, When Sophie Gets Angry  – Really, Really Angry by Molly Bang, and Weslandia by Paul Fleishman.

Note: I’m offering a free paperback edition of The Secret Garden to one person in the U.S. who either subscribes to my blog OR shares this post on Facebook any time during March. Leave a comment and I’ll let you know if you win!

Rise Up and Read Aloud!

World Read Aloud Day Is Coming March 9, 2011

Last year, 40,000 people joined in the first World Read Aloud Day. Will you be a part of this celebration on Wednesday? What better way to honor the power of words to change the world than to read aloud to children? You don’t have to join the crowds in Times Square for the 24-hour readathon. You can have your own event — in your classroom, in your library, in your bed with your child snuggled beside you.

World Read Aloud Day springs from LitWorld, headed by literacy advocate and author Pam Allyn, in an effort to build a world that nurtures reading. One of the group’s many literacy initiatives is the creation of this international celebration “to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology. By raising our voices together on this day we show the world’s children that we support their future: that they have the right to read, to write, and to share their words to change the world.”

Reading aloud is fun, but it’s much more than that. We can all take part in building a more just and literate world. Person by person. Book by book. Word by word.