Tony O'Brien

Teachers should read this book with students. In my high school one day during a school wide assembly when some students were not in the gym and were hanging out in my room, a student asked idly why our country is fighting in Afghanistan. He honestly had no idea. Students who are 15 or 16 were not born when the United States invaded Afghanistan after 9-11 and plunged the country into renewed chaos and war for now 17 years.
This book portrays many things including elements and aspects of everyday life for Afghan children in Kabul and in rural parts of the country. The photos and short biographical story-interviews are perfectly complementary and effective. Both give the effect of effectively communicating to an American or other foreign reader what children do and what may happen in their lives so far, for instance the large numbers of people whose family members have been killed or who have at times in the past been displaced as internal and external refugees, and what happens in a normal day.
Most of all, the stories tell us about child labor in small businesses and on the street, about going to school or being blocked from going to school, about poverty, deprivation and fear, but also about family life, about people immediately around the children, about what they do or think. The wonderful photographs emphasize the human importance and dignity of the individual, of children, by showing what normal surroundings are: houses, inside of homes, alleys, jackets, shoes, hijab, produce vendor's wheelbarrow, carpet loom, parents, siblings, bed, farm, mountain.
Finally, each child is asked and most directly answer: what are 3 things you wish you could achieve, and what would you communicate to children in the United States?
"In time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a radical act." This applies also to fundamental biographical and international journalism in this tiny vignette type.
Let us bring this book into as many classrooms and conversations as possible.
And as we use it, the book could be connected to the autobiography by Malala Yousafzai, or even more to the investigative reporting triple interview biographical study of the Afghan War by Anand Gopal written at an adult level but likewise based on specific detailed factual stories, No Good Men Among the Living.… (mais)

This book gave a good look into what life seems to be like in Kabul during wartime. There are pictures of the children along with their stories of what they want to accomplish. All of them are working low wages for one thing: to accomplish their dreams of going to school. Many of them hope to attend school and work to pay for that. They work to help their families and want to protect them from the "loud bombings" they hear near their houses. This book looks deep into what young teenagers/adults do to help themselves and their families earn money. Some of them make quilts and spend "hours" working with the material. It can be seen that they put in immense work to help themselves and their families afford school so they can hopefully live somewhere with less "fear" than they have now.… (mais)

I think this is a great book to have in your third-fifth grade classroom. It gives students a great view into the real lives of boys and girls living in Afghanistan. Students can see the similarities between themselves and these boys and girls across the world by seeing how all these children want to go to school. not only that, but the photographs of the children and their families makes them seem more real and more impactful to the reader. I think the big idea of this book is acceptance and unity. This book is trying to show how different people live their lives and how it really isn't any different from how we live ours.… (mais)

Once I opened this book I could not put it down, I was compelled to keep reading as the stories and autobiographies of each of these individuals was too hard not to read. This book had an overall theme of different children and young adults of all different ages telling their hopes and dreams while being restricted in the country of Afghanistan.
Some things about this story that made it extremely interesting was the photography. Each story included a real life photograph of the child telling the story. While some were pictured in their daily lives, the amount of passion and emotion is easily shown in each of their eyes. I believe this gives a chance for the reader to become fully emerged in the story and feel relatable as if they know the child.
Another thing about this story was the language used, it was easy to comprehend and follow along with however challenging enough to where readers could not stop. At one point a child Nasir, 14, discussed his struggle with having luck and not knowing where his future will take him. This book does an excellent job of engaging readers and reflecting on their own lives.
Although this story sends a powerful message it may be best suiting for young adults rather than young children as it does touch on some pretty powerful themes and aspirations.… (mais)