Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai

Há is a ten-year-old girl living in South Vietnam with her mother and older brothers when she and her family barely escape the fall of Saigon in 1975. As they board the ship to America, Há knows that she will never see her papyrus tree again, she will never see her friends again, and she will never see her MIA father again. As her family settles into its new life in Alabama, Há tells of the promise of democracy giving way to acts of racism as well as the kindness of a few overcoming the hatred of many.

Thanhha Lai weaves a simplistic, yet emotional, story that provides a new perspective for how the Vietnam War changed people's lives forever. Told in free-verse, the reading is fast-paced and easy to comprehend. My only complaint is that this young adult National Book Award winner, which is slated for 8-12 years old, is clearly children's literature. Although I enjoyed the storyline in
the context of children's literature, the reading is too simplistic to be categorized as young adult literature. It makes me wonder if this novel was pushed into the NBA pool by cronyism. Decide for yourselves.

The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

Heartbreaking. Harrowing. Beautiful. Tragic. Haunting...Khaled Hosseini tells the story of Amir, a young Afghanistan boy from privilege, who lacks courage; betrays his one, true friend; and craves a father's love that is always just past the tips of his fingers. When war breaks out in 1978, his father and he leave all of their riches to flee to the United States. After almost twenty years, Amir receives a phone call, and he must go back to his homeland to face his demons and learn the true meaning of sacrifice. While there, he discovers the horrors caused by the Taliban - murdered orphans, public executions, and decaying bodies hanging on every corner - and meets up with an old nemisis who is determined to make sure that Amir doesn't make it out alive. 

This book is phenomenal! Everything that I thought I knew about Afghanistan was either exaggerated or incorrect. This novel paints a picture of a muslim country living in peace until a war broke out and changed its future forever. Thinking that the Taliban would bring them peace, citizens supported their efforts to thwart the communism of Russia. What they learned very quickly, however, was that the Taliban used lies and manipulation to gain support only to use it to begin a reign of terror so intense that people trembled when its name was uttered. In addition, citizens learned to be quiety compliant or else they got to witness their family tortured and murdered before it was their turn. The Taliban does not represent true muslims. If people learn nothing else from this novel, they need to stop listening to the propoganda. 

This is an excellent novel to teach in conjunction with Marjane Satrapi's PERSEPOLIS. Although her novel deals with the 1978 take over of Iran by Islamic radicals, many of the same themes and historical events coincide. I like to play audio clips of Hosseini reading poignant sections of his novel for the class so that they can hear the hypnotic quality of his voice and how his authentic dialect adds to the various scenes. 

This novel has a lot of graphic scenes. Although it is not an autobiography, it is based on events that Hosseini is all too familiar. The only reason someone wouldn't want to read this for graphic reasons is because the reality may be too much to bear.

Our Way to Fight: Israeli and Palestinian Activists for Peace by Michael Riordon

Michael Riordon travels through occupied Palestine, recording the untold stories of Palestinian persecution and cruelty at the hands of the Israeli government. In an effort to right the wrongs of a corrupt government determined to eliminate Palestinians from Israeli soil, peace activists from both camps use the system to fight injustices Arabs face each and every day. Through vignettes, Riordon uses the 1948 War of Independence as the historical backdrop for Israel reclaiming its Holy Land and seeking to evict Palestinians from their land, dignity, and will to live. Painting them as terrorists, Israel has convince the world to look the other way while it continues its ethnic cleansing. 

This nonfiction is phenomenal. I never really understood all of the circumstances surrounding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, and I'm ashamed to say that I accepted the media's version of events. What Riordon's books shows, however, is the danger of accepting false truths and propoganda, and the power that people have if they will simply stand up and say, "No more." 

Riordon says that he wrote this book to tell the rest of the story, to move people to action. the following quote encompasses the basic premise of enlightenment: 

"The trouble is that once you see it, you can't unsee it. And once you've seen it, keeping quiet, saying nothing, becomes as political an act as speaking out. There is no innocence. Either way, you're accountable" (Arundhati Roy, p. 4). 

Humans have a responsibility to one another, and no one is exempt.