Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I wasn't looking forward to reading this because I thought it might be too serious and I prefer light, funny, or dystopian. I thought this one might feel too real and I get very emotional very easily. I bit the bullet and started reading it and all of a sudden my whole life drifted away and I was in hot, dusty, rural Afghanistan feeling all of the feelings of a 13 year old girl who lived there. Her life is so different than mine and I craved being in the town with her, watching her, praying for her. I thought I would get frustrated because of the way women are treated there or get mad that she didn't understand how much better her life could be. But I didn't. I just wanted to follow her and understand her life. The only time I got frustrated was when it was certain that the American army captain did not understand the cultural rules and disrespected the father. I stayed up too late, and was grateful my own daughter let me read all the next morning. I couldn't put the book down maybe for the first time not because I really wanted to see what happened in the end but because I wanted to be near her in her home learning from her and the other women until her story was finished. I am thrilled to share this with my students this fall. I hope it makes them as hungry for Afghani culture as these characters made me.
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