Shooting Kabul by N.H. Senzai

Title:  Shooting Kabul 

Author:  N.H. Senzai 

APA Bibliographic Information:

Genre: Fiction 

Lexile: 800L

Published: June 22, 2010

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Summary: 

Shooting Kabul is about a young boy whose name is Fadi.  Fadi, his parents, and two sisters decided that it is best for everyone to leave their country of Afghanistan because of the Taliban. On their way to American, the sister he was supposed to look after gets lost. When Fadi arrives in America not only does he get bullied but he struggles with a lot of guilt because he feels responsible for his sister. At school, he has to get reduced lunch because his parents don't have the resources and this makes him feel ashamed. When the attacks of 911 occur is when the discrimination and bullying appear. Due to being Muslim and because of the way he looks, people automatically start making fun of him for being a "terrorist". Later on in the book he decides to join a photography contest and hopes of winning and then having the resources to go find his sister. He does not win but in the end, they are able to find her because of one picture that he recognized her from. 

Who Would Enjoy this book? (Targeted Audience) :

Anyone from the age of 8-12 years old would really enjoy this chapter book. It's a chapter book that focuses on a boy who in reality would be part of a minority in this country. Even if the students isn't Muslim, I think that many students who are a minority or who have immigrated would be able to relate to the story.  It would also be a good book for students that like books based on true events and fact that happened, for example, 911 attack that is mentioned in the book.  This would be a good book for someone who has experienced bullying.

Evaluation Of Text: 

The dialogue in this book is really great and it really allows us to get to know the characters and their personalities.  The author's purpose was to show how an event in the real world can impact people that had nothing to do with the actual attacks. It allows us to see this event from a different perspective. Muslims all over the U.S were targeted after 911. The structure of the story flows which makes it easy to follow along. 

 

Reader Response Activity: 

For this activity, we would research events like 911 that impacted a minority or a group of people. The kids would work in groups of 2-3 people. An example, that they could do their mini project on would be the Holocaust. The students would have the option of either doing a collage, drawing a picture or writing a story.  For those who pick to write a short story, they would make up a character who is facing challenges due to something that happened in our history, like Fadi did.