Somehow there hasn't been a kid book review for a while, so here's two that we finished a number of weeks ago. Parvana's Journey and Mud City are the second and third books of the series that begins with The Breadwinner.
Parvana's Journey continues on with the main character from the first book and tells how Parvana travels to find her mother and siblings across the country of Afghanistan. The oppression of the Taliban and poverty/difficulties of the Afghan people once again made me feel for them and realize how little I understand about that part of the world. I actually "liked" it better than the first book...I think because it was a story of overcoming. A couple of things to mention: there is quite a bit of bickering between two of the characters (but it somehow fit?!?), and there is some stark reality - a young child dies from a land mine, a baby is trying to be sold and is stated to be likely to die. Hannah had a hard time with those concepts...it actually provoked us to talk about supporting some mission work in that country - but it is practically impossible to find a good solid organization there. We commented the other day that in fairy tales everything turns out well in the end. Only in real stories do things sometimes turn out sad. This is somewhat a story like that.
Mud City is the last of the series. It chronicles the story of Parvana's friend, Shauzia. She is in the country of Pakistan and is working towards fulfilling her dream of going to France. Most of the book she is living in Mud City - a women and orphan's refugee camp. I must say, I didn't really like the book...Shauzia was not an overcomer, more of a constant complainer. She always had an overly inflated view of herself and was frequently unwilling to abide by the rules and powers that be. Nonetheless, it was an interesting look into a refugee's life in Pakistan during the 90s. The idea that these stories took place in such recent history was really quite amazing to me.
Although these books are not the top of my favorites list, they were very insightful and broadened my very limited understanding of these two countries. I would recommend them if that is the purpose you are looking to fulfill.
Some more Sun Mountain picsParvana's Journey continues on with the main character from the first book and tells how Parvana travels to find her mother and siblings across the country of Afghanistan. The oppression of the Taliban and poverty/difficulties of the Afghan people once again made me feel for them and realize how little I understand about that part of the world. I actually "liked" it better than the first book...I think because it was a story of overcoming. A couple of things to mention: there is quite a bit of bickering between two of the characters (but it somehow fit?!?), and there is some stark reality - a young child dies from a land mine, a baby is trying to be sold and is stated to be likely to die. Hannah had a hard time with those concepts...it actually provoked us to talk about supporting some mission work in that country - but it is practically impossible to find a good solid organization there. We commented the other day that in fairy tales everything turns out well in the end. Only in real stories do things sometimes turn out sad. This is somewhat a story like that.
Mud City is the last of the series. It chronicles the story of Parvana's friend, Shauzia. She is in the country of Pakistan and is working towards fulfilling her dream of going to France. Most of the book she is living in Mud City - a women and orphan's refugee camp. I must say, I didn't really like the book...Shauzia was not an overcomer, more of a constant complainer. She always had an overly inflated view of herself and was frequently unwilling to abide by the rules and powers that be. Nonetheless, it was an interesting look into a refugee's life in Pakistan during the 90s. The idea that these stories took place in such recent history was really quite amazing to me.
Although these books are not the top of my favorites list, they were very insightful and broadened my very limited understanding of these two countries. I would recommend them if that is the purpose you are looking to fulfill.
