The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary

The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky by Farah Ahmedi, Tamim Ansary

"I was late to school, and that's all I could think about. I started across the field. And then suddenly a fire flashed in my face and the earth seemed to move beneath my feet. I remember a shower of soil and then nothing. I woke up on the ground, surrounded by a crowd, men and boys...no women. They were all staring down at me with huge eyes. Their lips were moving, but I could hear no voices. All I heard was a loud ringing in my ears."

How is that for a gripping opening?

All the more if you realize that this novel is nonfiction. It is an autobiography.

Farah Ahmedi is born at a time when the war between the mujahideen and the Soviets reaches its peak in Afghanistan. Bombs are falling all over the country, and her native city of Kabul is bursting at the seams with hundreds of thousands of people looking for homes and jobs. The sounds of gunfire and fighter planes are as normal to Farah as the sounds of traffic or children playing are to a schoolgirl in America. When Farah steps on a land mine on her way to school, her world becomes much smaller than the dreams and hopes in her heart. She begins to learn--slowly--that ordinary people, often strangers, have immense power to save lives and restore hope.

"The Story of My Life: An Afghan Girl on the Other Side of the Sky" recounts an epic journey. It shows what a childhood in Afghanistan is like, where classrooms are bare spaces with only chalkboards on the walls and are filled with more students than seats (and no books). In Kabul, they cancel school because of rockets and bombings; in Chicago, Farah might have a snow day. In Kabul, a schoolgirl wears a black dress and a white headscarf; inAmerica, girls need the right jeans and trendy tops.

Thanks to a number of good people who crossed her path at critical moments, Farah is thriving. She may be haunted by her past, but she is no longer enslaved by it. Farah is now a proud American citizen  and, in this time of new refugees coming from another country, this might be timely read.

https://www.bookbrowse.com/author_interviews/full/index.cfm/author_number/1134/farah-ahmedi

http://www.nbcnews.com/video/nightly-news/22735302#22735302

One Year Off by David Elliot Cohen

• I don't know how this book ended up on my shelf. But, looking for a book to take along on my next trip, it seemed like a fitting title.
• After one chapter I knew that this was not a book that I would leave along the way, as I usually do when I travel. This book I want to keep.

Reading One Year Off was like going along on the Cohen's trip around the world. Told in a conversational, comfortable voice, I identified with David Cohen's travel experiences. In fact, he seemed to have very similar ideas to mine as I travel. And we, too, once traveled for a whole year with our young children. We did it less drastic - in a camper all around North America.

The Cohen's hoofed it all around the globe. Having traveled before they got married, this couple wanted to do so again with their children - ages 9, 7 and 2 or so as they set off.

They take the bare essentials as they fly off to Costa Rica to discover a rain forest. They spend time in Europe and have fun adventures in France and Italy. They describe a crazy ferry ride to Greece and have fun holding their own Olympic races on the original site of the first Games.

I especially enjoyed reading about their African adventures as they go on safari. Like us, they spend time traveling across Australia. I recognized much of the descriptions of the vast empty Nullarbor and the convivial Aussies they met.

One place I have not been to, that the Cohen's visit in this book, is India. Their descriptions of the annual camel market in Rajasthan made me want to put this at the top of my bucket list!

The book is realistic. It gives practical advise in case you, too, want to take a year off with young children. But even without that, it makes for a plain fun read.

Remember to order from your local bookstore or from http://www.betterworldbooks.com

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• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684836017
• ISBN-13: 978-0684836010

Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road by Priscilla Galloway, Dawn Hunter

Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road by Priscilla Galloway, Dawn Hunter

This is a gripping account of three dramatic journeys that changed the course of history.

The fabled Silk Road conjures up sights, smells and sounds of faraway lands. But traveling the Silk Road took years, and those who set out encountered bandits, starvation and treacherous storms.

"Adventures on the Ancient Silk Road" introduces readers to three great historical figures:

Chinese Buddhist Xuanzang, whose 16-year journey from China to India and back (629-645 AD) is the only source we have for huge chunks of the history and geography of this time. His successful search for Buddhist scriptures changed the course of two great nations.

Genghis Khan, bred from infancy to be a warrior, brought the Mongol clans together. He established the greatest empire the world had seen, which ruled the Silk Road from 1201 to 1227.

And the Italian merchant Marco Polo who journeyed through China from 1271 to 1295. He changed the way Europe saw the world, and his book even inspired Columbus to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of China.


Beautiful photographs and art depicting the ancient routes and peoples bring the stories to life. Maps, sidebars and an afterword that updates the story of the Silk Road are also featured. This is one of those books that is labeled YA or children's but really is an 'everybody' book.