Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Riverhead Books. 2003. 372 pages. ISBN 1-
59448-000-1. $14.00 pb. Readers' guide online: www.penguin.com/guides.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY: AFGHANISTAN, IRAN, IRAQ, PAKISTAN TEXT SET PREPARED FOR ALAN FOUNDATION RESEARCH GRANT By Dr. Marge Erickson Freeburn and Dr. Nancy Shanklin Materials in this text set were selected by Dr. Marge Freeburn and Dr. Nancy Shanklin and purchased with funds provided by The ALAN Research Foundation of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents at National Council of Teachers of English. Citations for reviews use these abbreviations: BL=Booklist published by American Library Association; PW=Publishers’ Weekly; SLJ- School Library Journal; ALAN=ALAN Review published by Assembly on Literature for Adolescents at National Council of Teachers of English; VOYA= Voice of Youth Advocates published by Scarecrow Press. Copies of reviews are included in the Review Section of the Resource notebook. Middle School and High School Text Sets include: (1 copy of each title) DK Eyewitness Books. Islam. DK Publishing, Inc. 2002. 72 pages. ISBN 0-7566-1077-X $15.99. hb. This full-color, illustrated, brief and accessible reference book details the faith, culture, and history that have shaped the modern Islamic world. Non-fiction. Friedman, Thomas. Longitudes and Attitudes: The World in the Age of Terrorism. Anchor Books. 2003. 400 pages. ISBN 1-4000-3125-7 $14.95 pb. Non-fiction. Teachers will want to select excerpts to share with students from Friedman’s commentary on September 11 and from his diary of private experiences and reflections during his postSeptember 11 travels. He shares his thoughts on the continuing war against terrorism, the destruction of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, and the broader threats and challenges that remain for America and the world. (Reviewed: ; BL 9-15-02; PW * 8-1-02) Nye, Naomi Shihab. 19 Varieties of Gazelle: Poems of the Middle East. Greenwillow Book-Harper Collins. 2002. 142 pages. ISBN 0-06-050404-8. $6.99. pb. A collection of poems about the Middle East by an author who writes about being Arab-American, about Jerusalem and the West Bank, and about her family. (Reviewed: BL 4-1-02; PW 3-14-05; SLJ 5-1-02) Satrapi, Marjane. Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood. Pantheon Books-Random House. 2003. 154 pages. ISBN 0-375-71457-X. $11.95. pb. Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of her life from age 6 to age 14 in Tehran is told in black and white graphic novel format. “The intelligent and outspoken only child of committed Marxists and the great-granddaughter of one of Iran’s last emperors” describes her childhood during the years of the overthrow of the Shah, the triumph of the Islamic revolution, and the devastating effects of the war with Iraq. Sequel: Persepolis 2: The Story of a Return is less engaging and more pessimistic. (Reviewed: BL 5-1-03; PW *7-14-03; SLJ 8-1-03) Stamaty, Mark Alan. Alia’s Mission: Saving the Books of Iraq. Knopf Publishers. ISBN 0-37583217-3. $12.95. hb. In 2003 the chief librarian of the Central Library in Basra, Iraq smuggles over 30,000 volumes to safety. Inspired by this true story, and retold as a graphic novel, the book celebrates the importance of books and the freedom to read while examining the impact of war on a country and its people. (Reviewed: BL * 3-1-05; SLJ 3-1-05) Winter, Jeanette. The Librarian of Basra. Harcourt, Inc. 2004. ISBN 0-15-205445-6. $16.00. hb. This full-color picture book retells the story of a courageous woman and her war-torn country..
(Reviewed: BL 12-1-04; SLJ 1-1-05) High School Text Set: (4 copies of each unless otherwise indicated) Akbar, Said Hyder and Susan Burton. Come Back to Afghanistan: A California Teenager’s Story. Harper Perennial. 2005. (Reprint edition available in pb. October 2006.) 304 pages. ISBN 1-58234-520-1. $24.95. hb. Non-fiction. A challenging first-hand account by a 17 year old California teenager who accompanied his father to Afghanistan and observed the formation of the first post-Taliban government as his father became President Hamid Karzai’s chief spokesman and governor of Kunar province. Both personally and politically aware, Hyder struggles with his identity in his parents’ homeland and gives a behind-the-scenes account of political and civilian life. Advise readers to use a chart to keep track of the many real and newsworthy people. (Reviewed: BL 9-1-05 ; SLJ * 12-05) ALA Best Books for Young Adults 2006. Bagdasarian, Adam. Forgotten Fire: A Novel. Laurel Leaf Dell-Random House. 2000. 272 pages. ISBN 0-440-22917-0. $6.50. pb. Fiction. An accessible (RL 5.8) and powerful first person novel telling the story of Bagdasharian’s great-uncle’s experience during the Armenian genocide of 1915. The 12 year old was the youngest member of a rich and respected Armenian family in Turkey. He saw some family members murdered, lost his entire family, and was forced to endure unimagined horrors. An inspiring story of an individual’s strength and spirit during a historic tragedy that parallels current events. (Reviewed: ALAN Spr/Su 01; BL 7-2000; SLJ 12-1-2000). Includes Readers’ Circle reading group discussion guide. A National Book Award Finalist. LA Times Book Prize Finalist in Young People’s Fiction. ALA/YALSA Top 10 Best Books for Young Adults. A Bulletin Blue Ribbon Book. Hornbook starred review. Booklist Top 10 Youth Novel. Booklist Editors” Choice Selection for 2000. Fesperman, Dan. The Warlord’s Son: A Novel. Vintage Crime/Black Lizard-Random House. 2004. 320 pages. ISBN 1-4000-3048-x. $13.95. pb. Fiction. A novel of crime fiction, the book builds on Fesperman’s experiences as a war correspondent. Written as a thriller, the story focuses on a journalist and his guide who infiltrate Afghanistan on the eve of the fall of the Taliban. (Reviewed: BL 9-1-04; PW *8-16-04; SLJ 3-1-05) Garrels, Anne. Naked in Baghdad: The Iraq War and the Aftermath As Seen by NPR’s Correspondent. Picador at Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2004. 246 pages. ISBN 0-31242419-1. $14.00 pb. Non-fiction. (2 copies only) Journalist Anne Garrels reveals how as one of only sixteen non-embedded journalist who stayed in Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel throughout the American invasion she managed to gather and deliver immediate, insightful, and independent reports. Her accounts of technical difficulties encountered as she gathered and reported the news are balanced by the light-hearted e-mail exchanges and bulletins about her well-being sent to friends by her husband. Of definite interest to potential journalists. (Reviewed: BL audiobook 1-1-04; PW 8-25-03) Hosseini, Khaled. The Kite Runner. Riverhead Books. 2003. 372 pages. ISBN 1-59448-000-1. $14.00 pb. Readers’ guide online: www.penguin.com/guides. Readers’ guide included. Fiction. A novel, written by an Afghani, set in Afghanistan in the 1970’s and later in America. The author richly describes the Afghan customs and traditions mourned by the immigrants to America as
they struggle to build a new life. The primary plot focuses on the changing relationship between Amir and Hassan, the son of his father’s servant. Betrayal, salvation, hardships, and the graphic depiction of a brutal rape make this sometimes a difficult read, but the exemplary writing and the powerful themes make it compelling and thought-provoking. (Reviewed: BL 7-03; PW * 5-12-03; SLJ 11-1-03 ) Khadra, Yasmina. The Swallows of Kabul. Random House-Anchor Books. 2002. 195 pages. ISBN 14000-3376-4. $12.00. pb. Fiction. Yasmina Khadera is the nom de plume of an Algerian army officer Mohammed Moulessehoul. He used the feminine pseudonym to avoid submitting his manuscripts for approval by military censors while he was in the army. The novel, set in Kabul follows two Afghani couples whose are lives are changed by the fanaticism and repression of the Taliban. The characters descend into psychological and emotional dysfunction, yet are renewed at last by love. (Reviewed: BL *2-1-04; PW *12-1-03) Reading group guide available at www.readinggroupcenter.com. San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor Best Book of the Year. Latifa, My Forbidden Face: Growing Up Under the Taliban: A Young Woman’s Story. Hyperion/Talk Miramax. 2002. 210 pages. ISBN 0-78686901-1. $11.00. pb. Non-fiction. “In a moving tale of oppression and courageous defiance, 16 year old Latifa tells her story of growing up in war torn Afghanistan. She was born in Kabul in 1980. She was a prisoner in her own home as the Taliban wrecked havoc on the lives of Afghan girls and women. The regime banned women from working, from schools, from public life, even from leaving their homes without a male relative. Female faces were outlawed as the burka became mandatory.” (Reviewed: BL 3-15-02; PW 3-11-03; www.teenreads.com 2003) Moaveni, Azadeh. Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing Up Iranian in America and American in Iran. Public Affairs-Perseus Books Groups. 2005. 249 pages. ISBN 1-58648-193-2. $13.00 pb. Includes reading group guide. Non-fiction. “The author was born in Palo Alto California, into an Iranian diaspora community longing for an Iran thousands of miles—and a revolution—away. After graduating from college Azadeh moved to Tehran as a journalist and had her illusions disappear. She found a country that was culturally confused, politically deadlocked, and emotionally anguished. Her Tehran is populated by a cast of young people whose exuberance and despair bring the modern reality of Iran to life.” This is a true story of a private struggle to establish identity, a search for a homeland that may not exist. As the Taliban grew more repressive, Azadeh saw the young Iranians become more disdainful and brazen of their flaunting of authority, thus constantly endangering themselves. (Reviewed: BL 2-15-05; PW 1-17-05; SLJ 6-1-05) Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year. Nafisi, Azar. Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. Random House. 2003. 343 pages. ISBN 00-965-47080-6. $14.95. pb. Non-fiction. Many high school readers will find parts of this account too philosophical, and slow-moving, but the account of women’s lives as they become more determined to study, to learn, and to express themselves will resonate with American teens who seek challenging and significant experiences. (Reviewed: BL 4-15-03; PW * 3-17-03) www.thereaderscircle.com. Unabridged audiobook available at Recorded Books. (Reviewed BL: 2-1-0.)
Riverbend. Bagdhad Burning: Girl Blog from Iraq. The Feminist Press of the City University of New York. 2005. 286 pages. ISBN 155861489-3. $ 14.95 pb. Non-fiction. “in August 2003 a young Iraqi blogger began reporting her experiences as a civilian observer in Baghdad. Calling herself Riverbend, she offers searing eyewitness accounts of daily life in the war zone and has garnered a worldwide audience hungry for unfiltered news and fresh analysis.” Her accounts are contemporary, challenging readers to think about Iraq as a modern country whose engineers, bloggers, and young adults live lives parallel to their own. (Reviewed: BL 4-1-05; PW 2-7-05) Siertadt, Asne. The Bookseller of Kabul. Backbay Books. 2002. 288 pages. ISBN 0-316-15941-7. $12.95. pb. Reading group guide included. Non-fiction. A Norwegian journalist offers a unique perspective on family life in Kabul in 2001. “When the Taliban fell, I made for Kabul with the Northern Alliance. In a bookshop I happened upon an elegant grayhaired man. Having spent weeks among gunpowder and rubble, where conversations centered on the tactics of war and military advance, it was refreshing to leaf through books and talk about literature and history.” After a dinner with the family, she thought “How interesting it would be to write a book about this family,“ Surprisingly, the bookseller accepted her self-invitation to live and travel with his family. Her experiences reveal many details about the Afghani culture, and the lives of both women and men. (Reviewed: BL 11-1-03; PW * 9-29-03; SLJ 6-1-04) Related Titles: High School (Copies of these books are not included and may be of greater interest to adult readers) Bellaique, Christopher. In the Rose Garden of the Martyrs : A Memoir of Iran. Harper Perennial. Reprint edition 2006. 304 pages. ISBN0-7432-8133-0. $15.00 pb. (Reviewed: BL 8-05) Jacobson Sid and Ernie Colon. The 9/11 Report: A Graphic Adaptation. Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2006. ISBN 0-8090-5739-5. Pb. Non fiction. A full color graphic novel format retelling of the 9/11 report. Several readers have noted negative bias in the tetelling. Kahf, Mohia. The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf: A Novel. Carroll and Graf Publisher. Pb. ISBN 0-78-671-519-7 The main character, Khadra Shamy, tells her story of growing up in a Syrian Muslim family in Indianapolis in the 1970’s. Later, she travels to Syria to connect with her family heritage, and then returns to the US in the 1980’s. Unusual perspective on both the US and on Syria. Reviewed PW Oct 10 2006. Keir, Graff. Story Behind the Story: Girl Blog from Iraq. Non-fiction. Details about the author Riverbend. BL Feature 4-1-05 Nye, Naomi Shihab. The Space Between Our Footsteps: An Anthology of Middle Eastern Poetry. Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. 1998. 144 pages. ISBN: 0-68981-233-7.
Hb. A second anthology to draw from. (Reviewed: BL 3-1-98; SLJ 5-1-98) Pazira, Nelofer. A Bed of Red Flowers: In Search of My Afghanistan. Free Press. 2005. 408 pages. ISBN-13: 978-0-7432-8133-1. $15.00. pb. Non-fiction. “The picnic of the red flower” is a traditional time of celebration for Afghans. This is one of her earliest memories of Iran. When she was 5, the communists conquered Iran . her father, a respected doctor, was imprisoned with thousands of other Afghans. The following year the Russians invaded Afghanistan, battling with the American-backed mujahidin fighters. As a teenager she joined a resistance group with her friend Dyana. Nelofar’s family, after 10 years, escaped to Pakistan and then to Canada. When her letters to her friend were unanswered, she returned to search for her. The author is a journalist and filmmaker, and the star of the film Kandahar. This is a personal quest, unsuccessful, yet rewarding as she seeks her identity as an Afghani. (Reviewed: BL 8-05; PW 6-13-05) Sasson, Jean. Mayada, Daughter of Iraq: One Woman’s Survival Under Saddam Hussein. NAL Trade Paperback, 2004. ISBN 0-451-2129-24. Non-fiction. Mayada Al-Askari, a member of a prominent Iraqi family was imprisoned by Saddam Hussein in 1999. After her escape to Jordan with her children, Mayada told her story along with the stories of 17 “shadow women” imprisoned with her in Cell 52 to her friend Jean Sasson. Reviewed: 2003 PW Shah, Saira. The Storyteller’s Daughter; One Woman’s Return to Her Lost Homeland. Anchor Books. 2003. ISBN 1-4000-3174-8. $13.95 pb. 254 pages. Reading guide available at www.readinggroupcenter.com. Readers’ guide at www.randomhouse.com/anchor/catalog. “Imagine that a jewel-like kitchen garden overlooking Kabul is your ancestral home. Imagine a kitchen made fragrant with saffron strands and cardamom pods simmering in an authentic pilau. Now remember that you were born in London, your family in exile, and you have never seen Afghanistan in peacetime.” This memoir is told by a woman in her twenties or thirties who went to Afghanistan, but found that the stories told by men were only myths. She is a journalist and maker of a documentary film Beneath the Veil. (Reviewed: BL 9-1-03; PW 9-1-03; SLJ 12-1-02)
