Shooting Kabul

I am often very kind in my assessment of particular books because of their purpose. Such is the case with Shooting Kabul by newcomer to writing, N. H. Senzai, who grew up in San Francisco and Saudi Arabia. She tells the reader it is a story that had to be told, one that continued to niggle at the back of her head until she got it out.

Shooting Kabul is loosely based on her husband as a child and his family leaving Afghanistan because of the Taliban. It involves degrees in agriculture earned in the United States and a return to Afghanistan to improve farming techniques. After the Taliban's return to primitivism and total control of government and culture, the family's efforts (and efforts of many other families) were no longer wanted. It became unsafe to stay, thus a dark-of-night escape to asylum in the United States.

But that's not why I gave this book five stars. The writing, plotting, characters, plot conflicts--all would rate four stars. Ends are too conveniently tied and plot events are manipulated. But guess what? I don't care.  Here's why Shooting Kabul is a five-star book for children 9-12 and any older audience who wants to know more about Afghan culture.

1. The novel provides an up-close look at a typical Afghan family, actually, a Pukhtun family. The Pukhtuns make up the largest ethnic group of the Afghan peoples, comprising 42 percent of the population. The reader learns a little about religion, language, food, daily habits, family life. A "little" means just enough to weave into the story without overdoing it. The glossary of unfamiliar names and Afghan factos is included in the back of the book, as well as a further reading list.

(Extra Credit is one of the recommended books, a book I recently reviewed.)

2. The plot is timed during the Sept. 11 attack on American soil, thus "forcing" American attacks on the Muslim people in American and how they dealt with those attacks.

3. Friendships that cross racial and religious lines. Both Fadi, the main character, and his older sister, form relationships with others: Fadi with a Chinese-American classmate and his sister with an Anglo.

4. Good family relations. Children cannot possibly get enough examples of good family relationships in life or books.

5. A photography component. Fadi's father Habib taught him how to photograph while they were in Afghanistan and gave him his old Minolta camera. In San Francisco Fadi joins the photography club in his middle school and enters a competition with one of his photographs. Seeing photography as an art form being promoted is a real boon for this book.

The most serious problem in the novel is the loss of the youngest child, Miriam, while the family is leaving by dark-of-night. During the mad rush to climb into the escape truck, Miriam is left behind. A six-year-old girl. There was no turning back with the Taliban hot on their trail. One of the prizes of the photography contest is a trip with a let's-call-it-National-Geographic photographer to one of three countries for a photography shoot (with a parent, of course). One of the countries is India. Fadi believes he can win that trip and find his sister.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would like to see it in the hands of good teachers. librarians, home-schoolers, and parents to begin a dialogue to improve American-Muslim relations.

Shooting Kabul? A photography term, of course, to tie all components together. Fadi and his dad "shot" many photographs of their city in Afghanistan, starting his love of photography and the twist it plays in the story.

The inimitable Mr. Clements

Allow me a bold statement: Andrew Clements is, quite simply, an excellent writer--among the very best for children! His earlier novel for older children (9-12 and above), Frindle, WAS his best creation, but now, I'm thinking that Extra Credit belongs right there on the shelf next to Frindle as Clements' tour de force novel.

Frindle is about the creative impulse and the impetus behind an idea to make it FLOW. Yet--when Clements made me get down on the floor in this novel and "see" those mountains-- wow, there are no words to express that moment of discovery that makes Abby see those mountains with Sadeed.

Abby Carson is a sixth grader in the middle of the year, who is advised that she will probably need to repeat sixth grade. Her scores are just too low and she has shown no signs of improving or even wanting to improve. Such a fear becomes her wake-up call. Please, what can I do? An extra credit project--write to a pen pal and create a display of your letters on the bulletin board.

So Abby gets a pen pal in Afghanistan--a pen pal chosen by the village elders. They pick Sadeed because his English and his writing skills are the best of all pupils in the village--however, Afghan culture prevents boys and girls from communicating, so his younger sister becomes the front as the letter writer.

Cultural differences await and will spill over into each other's neighborhood, becoming the focus of a situational divide. That is absolutely all I can reveal about this deeply impacting short novel. If I were in the classroom, I would make Extra Credit required reading.

Reasons why this novel should be read by middle school students:
1. It's an excellent story.
2. The implications cause the reader to consider his/her own life in comparison
3. It's a great cultural introduction to a totally different way of life
4. It teaches geography and a bit of history
5. By happenstance, it raises the issue of compassion and encourages the reader to stretch one's sense of unique place in the universe

Bottom line: Extra Credit is most highly recommended!

  I also highly recommend Frindle as a wonderful addition to school, classroom, and personal libraries.

Messin' with a classic!

Soooo, we're really going there? We're gonna change that ever-awful, offensive N- word to "slave?" "N-" (I can never ever bring myself to write that word, even in a blog for academic support of a classic): (from Dictionary.com)

–noun

1. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive.

a. a black person.

b. a member of any dark-skinned people.

2. Slang: Extremely Disparaging and Offensive. a person of any race or origin regarded as contemptible, inferior, ignorant, etc.

When Mark Twain wrote The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, published in 1884, he used the first sense of the word: "a black person," the "acceptable" term of the time, although Twain probably used the word sardonically. After all, the most contemptible people in the Midwest and South are treated in his novel with only the slightest humor and more with Juvenalian satire, contemptuously, revealing their callous and inhumane selves.

As long as Huck and Jim, the "N" of the narrative, are on their raft, in the arms of the mighty Mississippi, they are safe. Touch land, touch evil. Meet it in the flesh. When Huck decides to go to Hell by freeing Jim, he shows his true color (pardon the pun). One of the kindest, most compassionate characters in literature is Jim.

"Slave": (from Dictionary.com)

–noun

1. a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another; a bond servant. 

Technically, within context of the novel set during the time of slavery, Jim could be referred to as a slave, but that changes Twain's intent: satire. Satire is a hard master and only readers with the strongest stomachs can take this tonic/toxin. The way of life of the South with people as slaves--as property, as subjects to others--was certainly offensive, abusive, murderous. How else to lull the sensibilities of ignorant, racist readers if not with the practice of the "n-" word. Did Twain know he would one day  offend? That's not the question: Did he care? The novel and Twain's use of the "n" word are part of American history as reflected in its literature.

Huckleberry Finn stands as it is. Leave it alone. If not, what's next? The Bible?






 For further discussion of using the "n" word in a class setting:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/cultureshock/teachers/huck/section1_2.html

WYNTON MARSALIS "CHEROKEE"

Wynton Marsalis

I have long followed the career of Wynton Marsalis, a New Orleans native. I just viewed a "60 Minutes" segment, featuring Marsalis in Cuba. Everywhere he goes, he teaches the importance of music, especially as it applies to children. His main thrust--after the music, of course-- is spreading a love of jazz.  Wynton Marsalis is a national treasure through his promotion of the arts, music in particular.

Here are some ways to get to know Wynton Marsalis:

Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

I write reviews which post on Amazon. I've been doing this for at least three years. My association with the other reviewers has been mixed, but mostly productive and beneficial, mostly pleasurable and amiable. The greatest benefit is meeting people who read all kinds of things. I'm an eclectic reader. It has been fantastic to "meet" other people who read deeply as I do (and frivolously as well).

The most shocking thing for me is that I am not as knowledgeable of writers and books as I thought I was. Just recently I discovered that Mark Twain had written a novel called Joan of Arc, one he considered his masterpiece. I didn't know it existed. So I read it. It took me two months to read, mainly because I found it tedious. Poorly written? Heavens no! The style is masterly. After all, Mark Twain did spend 12 years researching the topic and two years in writing the book. It truly is his masterpiece. I finally figured that the first two sections were written rather historically and the last section more like fiction.

Joan of Arc is not an easy read, but it is definitely a worthy one. I know Joan of Arc now. I know Mark Twain much better. It is my recommendation that you meet both as they come together in this novel:



Here is my review as it appears on Amazon:

Joan of Arc had no peer. "She is the Wonder of the Ages" and "the Riddle of the Ages." "In the world's history--she stands alone...." These thoughts come from the pen of Mark Twain (Samuel Longhorn Clemons) in his essay about Joan of Arc, located at the end of his mighty historical novel about this French peasant girl's too short life.

Twain absolutely loved Joan of Arc and found her just about a perfect gem. In saying that she stands alone, he compares her life and accomplishments with those of genius of various fields. Without exception, he says, all other genuises had background training, education, experience, practice. Joan alone was the master of everything she did the first time. The only one! She commanded an army as general at age 17, never having ridden a horse before or even seen a soldier. Everything she predicted came true. She decimated the case against her in the courtroom even though she was allowed no counsel and was chained 24/7 in the company of English soldiers. Add to that her ignorance in reading and writing, basing her responses on strict memory of proceedings and charges, evidence and its twisted nature.

Twain spent 12 years researching information about Joan of Arc and found his mother load in France's dusty archives. What he discovered was "The Official Record of the Trials and Rehabilitation of Joan of Arc" written in 1456 and buried in the Archives until re-discovered in the 1800s. Twain then had access to what he termed as "the most remarkable history that exists in any language...." (441). And it told a grand tale.

Joan of Arc came from a simple, backward village of Domremy in the Lorraine region (fairly near Germany). Voices began talking to her, advising her to round up an army, then drive the English out of France, and restore the King to his throne. She's a mere 16 and knows nothing beyond the limits of her village.

Why Joan to lead an army? Why Joan to sacrifice her life for the freedom of France? One thing Twain never says in this biographical/historical novel is that God chose her. He refers to the Voices (St. Michael, St. Catherine, and St. Margaret), which Joan names. In life Twain was agnostic, but certainly never hinted through word or tone that he doubted her.

Various sources, various literary critics always include Twain as America's best novelist with "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" as best novel. Of course, others give the nod to other writers and name each one's "best" novel. The fact that Twain wrote this deeply profound and compassionately told novel confirms his reputation as America's Best Novelist. This is his best novel.

"Joan of Arc" is narrated by an 80-something-year-old childhood friend and constant companion of Joan, someone dear whom she appointed to be her secretary and recorder of history in the making. Being with her for the two years of her march through France and during the trial allowed him to record--accurately--all that happened to Joan and because of Joan.

The book itself is divided into three parts, not necessarily equally. The first deals with Joan, the Voices, and her gathering of an army. Frankly, despite my interest, I found this section tedious, albeit necessary for those details. One technique Twain included numerous times in Part I and Part II was narration of the amusing things various characters did. All chapters were short, thankfully, these, too. In actuality, usually each narration of these amusing characters was a brief distraction from the heaviness of plot development. I am reminded of both Silas Marner by George Eliot/Mary Ann Evans and by Twain's own Huckleberry Fin.

Part II details Joan's march through France to find the Dauphine in order to restore him to the throne of France and to narrate some of the battles they fought. As well, France is involved in the Hundred Years War, which Joan judiciously ends before her capture at the walls of Paris.

Part III is the most rousing. By this time--page 309--the reader has invested so much time and effort in reading this 452 page book in small print that discovering anything negative is heart-wrenching. Wisely, Twain does not describe the details of the actual burning, but he makes the reader feel those chills and recognize Joan's horror at the very thought of being burned at the stake. No descriptions were necessary.

Joan died this horrible death largely because of political/religious motivation by a bishop with powerful desire for higher office and because of loss of pride for being embarrassed in court by a "mere girl." Of actual evidence against Joan as a witch was her wearing of male clothing--battle armor, even though the Voices commanded it.

After her Rehabilitation, Joan was eventually named a martyr. She served her God well and knew how it would all end. Her behavior was always pure, full of integrity, honesty, patience, obedience, and endurance. Twain closes his book with this statement: "--[S]he is easily and by far the most extraordinary person the human race has ever produced" (452).