By Jo-Ann Sleiman
Fraser Valley Regional Library

It was the enormously popular Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin, that got me thinking about Afghanistan – a country that is now irreversibly tied to Canada, but that, for many of us, remains an enigma – and the challenges of presenting this alien, beautiful, tragic and infinitely interesting land to young readers.

The juvenile edition of Three Cups of Tea, like its equally absorbing adult counterpart, recounts the Afghan adventures of Mortenson, who, through a simple twist of fate, stumbles upon his life’s mission: to build schools for Afghanistan’s extraordinarily disadvantaged children. As Mortenson struggles to fulfil his vision, we begin to understand something of the country, its people and its problems.

Young readers wanting to dig deeper into the topic will find several other good non-fiction sources in the juvenile section of their library. Afghanistan, by David Downing, and Looking at Afghanistan, by Kathleen Pohl, are up-to-date, fact-filled examples.

Another that stands out is Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan, by Tony O’Brien and Mike Sullivan. Here, Afghanistan is revealed through a series of first-person accounts by Afghan children, and brought to life by O’Brien’s stunning photography.

Using a similar format, Deborah Ellis’s Off to War presents an interesting glimpse into a related topic: the experiences of Canadian and American children whose parents serve in the military in Afghanistan or Iraq. For beginner readers, the choices are less plentiful, but the K-2 set should enjoy books like Count Your Way through Afghanistan, by Jim Haskins and Kathleen Benson (“Afghanistan’s flag has three stripes,” and so on).

As fascinating as the available non-fiction on Afghanistan is, it is the fiction that allows us to relate personally to the lives of Afghan people, to breath the air, hear the sounds and feel the textures of the country. An absolute must read in this category is Deborah Ellis’s juvenile trilogy: The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey and Mud City. The first two books follow Parvana’s family as they battle to survive under Taliban rule and finally flee to the overcrowded refugee camps on Afghanistan’s border with Pakistan. Mud City tells the simultaneous story of a friend who forgoes the refugee-camp experience to try her luck on the streets of one of Pakistan’s largest cities. Ellis does not shy away from the real problems that Afghans face: war, disease, displacement, hunger, poverty and a want of personal and political freedom.  But she also reveals the fortitude, resourcefulness, dignity, and courage that can spring from adversity, while deftly highlighting the concerns and conflicts that are common to both Afghan and North American children.

Camel Bells, by Janne Carlsson, recounts a similar – and equally captivating – story of a family coping with the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the late 1970s and the ensuing warfare between Soviet forces and Afghan mujahidin (rebels). As Hajdar flees the persistent bombardment of his home with his mother and sister, flashbacks to a more peaceful time present a portrait of Afghan family and village life. Other good juvenile reads to watch for are Wanting Mor, by Rukhsana Kahn, and Extra Credit, by Andrew Clements.

For the young adult crowd, Under the Persimmon Tree, by Suzanne Fisher Staples –a former news correspondent out of Afghanistan – is another in the (understandably) long line of tales of Afghan misfortune and dislocation, this time told from the points of view of an American teacher who is passing time in a border refugee camp, and an Afghan girl who has lost her family and is forced to escape to Pakistan on her own.  Unlike the fictional works mentioned thus far, the book raises the subject of U.S. post-9/11 involvement in Afghanistan.

Touching on similar questions, Catherine Stine’s Refugees traces the parallel stories of two teens: a troubled American girl who experiences the 9/11 catastrophe firsthand, and an Afghan boy who, like so many others, escapes the conflict in his homeland to take refuge in Pakistan.

In an entirely different vein, historical fiction enthusiasts will enjoy Deborah Ellis’s Jackal in the Garden, which Ellis added to her already impressive body of work on Afghanistan in 2006. Part of the Art Encounters series, the book tells the story of an abandoned, deformed infant who survives and forms an attachment to the real-life 15th-century Persian painter, Bihzad.

Finally, no list of fiction on Afghanistan would be complete without Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner, a heart-wrenching story of friendship, betrayal and deliverance that nimbly exposes the political havoc that has plagued Afghanistan since the late 1970s. Although the book is categorized as adult fiction and contains some undeniably mature themes – violence against women, and rape, for instance – it is an engrossing read that many older teens will enjoy.

This short article only scratches the surface of the growing reserve of juvenile and young adult literature on Afghanistan. Visit your local library for more good reads.