katyjean81's reviews
1318 reviews

The day I come across a traditional textbook which deserves five stars... well, it will be one heck of a day. Sunny, I imagine.

Overall, I liked this book. It is reminds me of a Thousand Splendid Suns but for a younger audience. I appreciated that the author took the time at the end of the book to explain the background for her story, which stemmed from a "report issued by Afghanistan's department of orphanages". Additionally, she acknowledged the women who helped her vet the story for accuracy and cultural authenticity, who are from Kabul and Khandahar. There is an excellent glossary at the end, which I wish I ahd thought to look for early on.

This book also strikes me as enabling text in accordance with Dr. Alfred Tatum's work. While it is not a book tailored towards lives of African American teenage males, his population of interest, this story is an excellent example of a book which shows a marginalized main character in the midst of a seemingly hopeless situation able to pull through as the result of self-reliance, dogged perseverance, good decision making and education.

The main character Jameela is not without fault and is not always completely likeable, which endeared me to her all the more. I believe she is a character with whom American children could connect because while she is living a life completely different from the experiences of most American children, she deals with loss, love, and difficult friendships, common human experiences. For example, upon arriving in the orphanage, she struggles with the power structure which exists in the friendships amongst the other orphans. While she eventually earns her place among the other orphans through her actions, she is not perfect. Some books would make her automatically the nicest girl who is kind to everyone, but Jameela is actually still unkind to a young orphan girl named Arwa. I found this to be a more realistic portrayal of adolescent relationships.

This book is heavy, touching on drug abuse, war, adult drinking, religion, personal identity and more. None of it is glorified, and I believe for an interested upper middle school age student or lower high school student, this would be an excellent selection. I also see it working as part of a reading ladder related to either contemporary Afghanistan, Muslim related fiction, or women around the world. Since it is such a thick text with many layers for discussion, I also see its potential for a literature circle book.

***Added***

After some additional thought, another thing I like about this book is how it dealt with femininity in the Arab world. Sometimes when I read books about cultures different than my own, I feel that authors (particularly American authors writing about global cultures) are treating these cultures and communities with respect until there is something about that culture which offends or displeases them. I enjoyed the passages where Jameela discussed her wearing of the Chadri (or Burka) because the author treated the issue with a deep respect for the character's culture, rather than treating it as a negative or backward characteristic of a culture which is in need of remedy. Of course, as Ms. Khan is Pakistani (not Afghan as is her main character), her cultural background may have made it easier for her to portray this cultural component with this sort of deep respect rather than respect "to a point". I am not an expert on books with Muslim themes, but my limited experience as well as my knowledge related to multicultural and global literature made me feel that Ms. Khan did an excellent job of writing clearly about an issue which can spark heated conversations in the Western World.

I think this book is a wonderful text, both in terms of introducing children and families to the basics of Down Syndrome as well as, separate from it's content, an excellent picture book. The pictures are brightly colored, centered on the page, and aid student understanding of the characters and plot progression. In particular, the illustrations do a nice job of subtly representing the differences in facial characteristics of children with Down Syndrome. As the story points out, children with Down's Syndrome resemble their siblings, can do most things other kids can do with a little time and patience, and are a welcome addition to any family after the possible initial shock of diagnosis. It would serve as an ideal read aloud for a pre-school or kindergarten classroom discussing new siblings, ability, Down Syndrome or families. There is a question and answer section at the end of the story with questions which were submitted by parents of children with Down Syndrome, which were asked by their children when they found out they had a sibling with Down Syndrome. This is useful for children, parents and teachers.

Overall, I felt that this was a developmentally appropriate picture book to address one variation on ability, an issue which is often overlooked in mainstream children's publishing.

After reading this book, I was honestly a little disappointed. The premise seemed so fantastic that I really wanted to like it. And the artwork is fantastical, which made me want to like it even more. But the thing I am reminding myself of, is that as we get more and more lgbtq themed children's literature, some of it is bound to be just okay. And this book was okay. It's nice that their is the premise that a Prince could like and fall in love with another price. But I would have a liked a little more attention to King & King after they meet but before they marry, especially after a multitude of pages about the different women he decided not to marry. They see each other and they marry. Why not give them even a page to fall in love? Also, why does the princess from India get a name which seems to be a mockery of Indian names? Dolly got a traditional (?) Texan/southern/country name. Aria got a name which reflected her singing. Madeleine got a real name for no reason other than the fact that she appears to be pretty and I would guess we are supposed to assume that he would like her. And then the Indian princess gets Rahjmashputtin? Perhaps I am harping on details, but details are important, particularly in children's literature, where we are laying the foundation for the adults they will grow into. On that same note, platform shoes? Is he gay? Is he a cross dresser? Is he both? Any of those are fine, but just tossing platform shoes on him to indicate his gay-ness doesn't sit right with me.

While the collage aspect of the illustrations is an admirable artistic feat, it makes this story less likely to be a suitable read aloud. It would, however, be fun for parents and children to read together and track what the crazy cat is up to in each scene.