"Under the Persimmon Tree" by Suzanne Fisher Staples was an eye opening experience for me. This was the first novel that I have ever read about the Afghanistan culture and was interested from the first page when I noticed that this novel started in October of 2001 - merely one month after the bombing of the World Trade Center. I can still remember where I was when I watched the towers fall and I remember all the horrible, sad details in the days and months that followed that. However, I never once stopped to think about what was happening to the lives of the innocent in Afghanastan. I was too caught up in what was happening in my own country to stop and think about others. Well, this book made me think about it, and I am glad that it did.

I fell in love with both Nusrat and Najmah. Nusrat was so strong to follow her beliefs and her love to Afghanistan and live there while her husband went to take care of others. She completely embraced a new culture and lifestyle and found answers where she had none before. I could relate personally to Nusrat's struggle with her own religion because although I was baptised a Catholic, I was not raised in the Catholic church. When I was 27, after the death of both of my grandmothers, I started my own spiritual journey searching for answers. Like Nusrat, I researched different types of religions until I found one which I felt most comfortable with.

Najmah was also a strong character and it was heartbreaking to witness how quickly she lost her innocence. When the Taliban took Baba-jan and Nur, I was so sad for Najmah, but for some reason, it hit me even harder when he grabbed the burki - perhaps because the burki was just like Najmah - small and innocent. Then, when she witnesses her mother and Habib's deaths, my heart went out to this small girl. When the bombing at her home happens, she thinks the Americans are shooting the stars out of the sky (p. 64). This shows just how young and innocent she really is. And (p. 83) she thinks that she too might be dead because she is not aware of any of her senses. Najmah is only a young girl and within a matter of a few days, she becomes numb to death. She passes the dead, the beaten and the wounded without any thought because it death and pain are everywhere in her life after the bombing. I thought the scene in the book where Najmah is at the bazaar and sees the tent selling only one shoe for people who have lost legs in the land mines was horrifying.

I was also surprised to see the details of how some of the people in Afghanistan were living in 2001. The birthing process that Mada-jan goes through seemed almost medieval to me. She gave birth alone in her home with a dirt floor withoout drugs, cut the umbilical cord herself and then had her daughter clean up the blood and afterbirth. I can't imagine any woman in the United States going through that, but it was normal for this family. And, under different circumstances, I am sure that Mada-jan would have had a midwife to help her through the birthing process. However, I like how through Najmah's first hand narration, I got to see how backwards someone in her culture thinks Americans might be. I loved the scene where Najmah doesn't like sitting at the table because she feels like it is too far off of the ground and she realizes that her whole family lived (and slept) in a room the size of one room at Nusrat's home.

As in "Esperanza Rising" the idea of the 'evil' uncle also came up in this book. I guess this is because the laws towards women and land ownership are so different in other countries. In the United States at one point in history, women had no rights of land ownership if their husbands/fathers died. In both of these stories when the dominant male is taken out of his home, the women have to worry about the men's brothers coming to take over the property, and in both books the brothers were aggressive and domineering. If my father passed, today in 2010 in the US, my mother would just continue to live in her home and make mortgage payments. Her brother-in-law would have no claim over her and her possessions and it is scary that it is not that way for women in other countries. Even Nusrat will have no choices left to her in Afghanistan after they realize that Faiz is dead.

I thought the ending of the book was perfectly fitting. It was nice to see some happiness (Najmah's reunion with Nur) and it was relastic to see the unhappy endings (the fate of Baba-jan and Faiz). I would definitely recommend this book to adolescents and adults alike and I think that it is an important novel to include in any school curriculum. I think that a lot of prejudice exists in America against people of Middle Eastern descent - especially after 9/11 - and I think it is important to open the eyes of Americans to the stories of the innocent who were wounded just as badly as we were by the Taliban.

Sun 2/7/10 Black and White

Black and White by Paul Volponi was a book that really made an impact on me because I tutored a young black man from Newark for several years who used to assist a drug dealer in order to get some extra money. He was a really sweet young man who found himself in some difficult situations. Luckily, there were other circumstances in his life (an educational trust fund set up for him by his late father) so once he got accepted into college, he was able to get out of Newark and start a whole new life for himself. Marcus was not so lucky - he was caught and had to pay the price for his crime.

I was impressed by the maturity of Marcus' character. He really matured throughout the novel and took responsibility for his poor choices. I was disappointed in the character of Eddie who ran away from the consequences of the crime he committed. Both boys were in the car and they both made bad decisions. Marcus was the one who was identified and the one who came from a family with less money. While I was reading this book, I was wondering if Eddie had been the one who had been identified, if Marcus would have acted the same way - avoiding his friend and trying to look innocent. I was also wondering how it would have been different if Marcus was the one who came from money, and Eddie was the one who lived in the projects. Poverty level definitely had something to do with Marcus taking the plea bargain. His mom had to have her sister's put up their houses just to get bail money - they had no extra money for a "good" lawyer. Ms. Torres, the DA, was his only opportunity for representation. He is lucky he got someone who worked out such a short prison term for him. Eddie, on the other hand, held more responsibility in the crime and had a better chance of getting off with out any consequences. I found it interesting that Mr. Parker, a black man, could identify Marcus (who was sitting in the back seat) but not Eddie who was sitting next to him and holding the weapon. I wondered if the victim had been white if he would have been able to identify Eddie and not Marcus.

The different viewpoints and the varying fonts from chapter to chapter was a very clever way to show the two different viewpoints in the novel. This was a way for the reader to experience both boys through their own minds. I think this was also how we could see the division of Marcus and Eddie's friendship. I loved watching Marcus accept the mistakes that he made and face the consequences with a brave face. Eddie, on the other hand, refused to step up and admit his guilt in the crime, and the burden showed on him for everyone to see - including Marcus. "But there was no way he could keep up, dragging everything around with him." Marcus was going off to jail, but he deserved to - he was a good kid, but he made some poor choices. He just got lucky that Mr. Parker didn't die.

Once again, I was happy to see loving "families" represented in a book about teenagers. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Junior had his family and his grandmother and his coach and his team to support him. In this book, both Marcus and Eddie have support, but in slightly different ways. Eddie has a family who loves him (although his father doesn't appear to be able to look him in the eye after he realizes his guilt), and his mother and sister. He also has his relationship with Rebecca and some support from the team. The team, made up of mostly young black men, really support Marcus though - especially X and Moses. Marcus also has his mom and sister, Rose, Jefferson and Coach. I think that Coach would have been more supportive of Eddie too, but Eddie didn't confide in him about anything.

I think this book really brought out the discussion of race/ethnicity. Besides the friendship of "Black" and "White" there are the two security guards, the interracial relationship between Rose and Marcus, the difference in team members on the basketball team --- and many other places to start discussions with a class. I would be interested in what younger readers think about the scene where Eddie accepts St. John's scholarship on the night that Marcus was arrested. Was he right in looking after himself? Or should he have been stronger for his friend? And how deep can friendship really go?