Nasreen's Secret School: A True Story from Afghanistan

This an inspiring book based on a true story from Afghanistan. It's a great conversation starter and culturally relevant. The book is narrated by Nasreen's grandmother & begins after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in 1996. Reading the "Author's Note" is a must; It explains pre-Afghanistan (educated women, working women) & present Afghanistan in 2 short pages. Nasreen falls in deep depression & total silence after her father is taken away by soldiers & her mother leaves at night to find him & don't return. Nareen's grandmother knows that she has to get her granddaughter reconnected with peers, and the world outside of Afghanistan. She finds a secret school for girls to send her granddaughter during the day. The girl studies with the other girls and develops a silent relationship with one. In a country where seeking an education is too often paired with facing death, brave girls dare to reach for that which we take for granted in the West. The books illustrations are childlike but clear and understandable - not, in your face, realistic - which can open discussions. I'll be reading this to my 9 yr old granddaughter, whose father has recently returned from Iraq. I'll also have the globe near by. I'll also give it to her 3rd grade teacher, if she feels it would be a good class book.

Subtle in its approach, this book is a wonderful start to a conversation about how women live in different parts of the world and how important an education is. The metaphor that freedom lies in knowledge is clear, and that it is worth anything and everything. While the writing is so succinct that the book goes by very quickly, the subtext carries most of the weight. The illustrations resemble naive art, a genre known to capture a childlike simplicity and perspective. Anything too literal or realistic might have been difficult to swallow for the age group, so the choice helps soften the blow and carry some of the hope that makes this book so meaningful. Again, everything is fairly understated, which makes the impact stronger.

This book is a matter of fact story about a traumatized girl during the Taliban experience. Two members of her family disappear and the girl stops talking. The grandmother decides that she can't just let the girl sit in the house and do nothing. She finds a secret school for girls to send her granddaughter during the day. The girl studies with the other girls and develops a silent relationship with one. What happens next is very moving. I am an ESOL teacher and although I no longer have Afghani students in my classroom, this is a book to share with everyone. I will definitely read this book with my students.

This picture book is told as narrated by the grandmother,which I think helps to provide an emotional buffer for children. She tells of how music and arm and learning once flourished in her city, but now soldiers have come and changed everything, and these things are now gone. Her grand-daughter, Nasreen stays at home all day because the Taliban soldiers deny the joys and privileges of schooling to girls. Nasreen's father is taken away by the police, and her mother goes to find word of him and never returns. Nasreen retreats into her own inner world and ceases to speak. The grandmother hears of a secret school for girls and she brings her grand-daughter to the school, praying to Allah that she will find something there to help her bloom again. The soldiers come to the school once, but the girls outwit them, says the grandmother, by hiding their forbidden schoolbooks and reading the Koran by the time the soldier comes. Other times boys outside watch and distract the soldiers. One day Nasreen speaks to a friend in the school and tells her of her sorrows, and after that she begins to smile, and 'little by little, day by day,' she learns to read, to write, to do math, and she learns of the world around her. The grandmother compares what she learns to windows, and says that with this knowledge, Nasreen will never again be alone, "the knowledge she holds inside will always be with her, like a good friend." The illustrations remind me a little of the Grandma Moses style, primitive, an almost dreamlike sense of perspective, but with a marked Middle Eastern influence. I think this adds to the book's appeal immensely, and also helps keep things from being too frightening- the illustration for the page where the police take away the father, for instance, shows the father and police officer at the most distant point in the frame, reduced in size and perspective, making the image less terrorizing and disturbing to a child than it might otherwise be. Is this too much for a young child? Parents must, as always, make that determination based on knowledge of their own children. My personal view is that young children do not bring to books the background knowledge and experience that adults do, and thus they will not find the book as frightening and disturbing as their parents do. We know that in all likelihood Nasreen's parents have been executed, but the book never says so, and small children do not have the historical knowledge and understanding that would make this clear to them. There is a poignant illustration on the page that talks about the school closing for the long winter recess and how their relatives gave them what food and firewood they could spare. The illustration shows Nasreen and her grandmother sitting near the small woodstove, heavy snow falling outside. I realize the deprivation and hardship behind this picture and these short sentences- I know that with no male family members in her home, the grandmother her has no income but

This book is a well written picture book based on a true story. Picture books are not always geared for the very young, but can be an excellent source to launch discussions among children, especially upper elementary. This book would be a great addition to a teacher's classroom library. Teachers often need a story that provides a brief exposure to a problem in order to get the kids all on the same page. Based on current events, Nasreen's Secret School would be excellent starting point to advance further research on the Taliban. Students will easily be able to grasp the enormous risk girls take in Afghanistan just to get an education.