Senzai, N.H. Shooting Kabul

Senzai, N.H. Shooting Kabul
Simon & Schuster/Little Brown 2010 272p 16.99
978-1-4424-0194-5 elm/ms Realistic Fiction VG
Afghan family faces challenges as the Taliban takes over in Afghanistan. While trying to escape, they lose daughter Mariam in the turmoil but must leave anyway, to face life in the post 9/11 San Francisco area. Guiltridden, Fadi faces trying to survive in school and to find a way to save Mariam. Books like Shooting Kabul can be powerful tools to show children what is happening in other cultures. N. H. Senzai uses her pen to help us understand a different perspective, that of the typical Afghan family who faces great change, both in Afghanistan after the Taliban takes over and in the U. S., after 9/11. We can only imagine the despair when Fadi loses his sister Mariam during his family’s daring escape from Afghanistan. Fearing death at the hands of the Taliban, Habib takes his wife, Fadi and remaining sister Noor and escapes to San Francisco. Habib is certain that Mariam will be found at one of the many refugee camps someday soon. Fadi doesn’t only face tremendous guilt, but also must survive at his new school where Muslim’s, especially Afghanis and Iraqis, are bullied after 9/11. A parallel story evolves, showing how Fadi enters a photography contest to try to win first prize, a trip to India. Naturally, Fadi expects to win because he wills it so, certain that he can find Mariam on his own by winning the trip! Another conflict that Fadi faces is revenge. Should he follow his heart and turn the other cheek, or join his newfound friends, other bullied children, in seeking revenge on school bullies Felix and Ike. In the end, the group of misfits, under Fadi’s leadership, turns the other cheek and does not seek revenge. Senzai’s explanations of the situation in Afghanistan, the need for our country to find Al Quaeda following 9/11 and the prejudices that surfaced across the United States are clarified for younger readers. The plot is fast-moving and interesting. Facing our fears about terrorism parallels the fears that a bullied child must face when confronted by a bully, and this theme shines as Senzai weaves the conflicts of her tale together. This book is best for upper elementary school and middle school libraries. Its strength lies in its clarity in explaining the difficulties faced by Muslims who live in our country. Squaresky, Martha