The Sky of Afghanistan

September 17, 2012
Eulate and Wimmer offer a forceful vision of hope for Afghanistan’s future, told from the perspective of “a little Afghan girl who doesn’t stop dreaming.” A kite that “struggles against the wind” serves as a metaphor for the country’s efforts to rise up; in one of Wimmer’s sweeping pencil spreads, a map of Afghanistan becomes a kite itself, its red tails unspooling toward a crowd that includes a woman in a burqa, a father holding his daughter, and a soldier. Red poppies, a flower blooming from a tank, and a ragtag collection of toys with joined hands are among the many inspirational images that underscore the book’s message of peace. Ages 5–7.

September 15, 2012
A young girl dreams of the day peace will come to contemporary Afghanistan, the war-torn country she loves. Letting her imagination soar, a little girl looks to the sky and visualizes flying the "bright kite of peace" across Afghanistan into "people's houses, their homes, their families, their hearts." She sees her dream in children's smiles and eyes, "a wonderful dream in which we all hold hands" and the "sound of war has truly gone forever." She envisions a future filled with hope, opportunity and harmony. Speaking idealistically in the present tense, the little girl's voice rings with compelling optimism, and her verbal images of the sky, kites, soaring and flying are visually reinforced in elegant, wistful illustrations that compositionally sweep the eye diagonally upward across the page from left to right. Somber, gray pencil drawings and tan backgrounds reflect the current bleak Afghan reality, while blue headscarves and red kites provide hopeful accents. Powerful images of dancing kites, ascending doves, women in burqas, a child playing with toys made from trash and flowers sprouting from tanks juxtapose the real and the aspirational. While topically relevant, the absence of historical, political or cultural context for the current Afghan crisis may leave young readers somewhat clueless. Ardent advocacy for Afghan peace. (Picture book. 5-7)

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December 1, 2012

K-Gr 2-An Afghan girl dreams of peace. She imagines herself and her fellow countrymen flying like kites in the sky, a metaphor that is repeated ad nauseum throughout the book. There is no plot, just this redundant wishing for a different world. No background as to what has prompted this longing is provided. It is difficult to imagine a child of any age being able to make sense of such statements as, "We are all given a new opportunity to leave our footprints for all eternity" or "please forgive me if my eyes fill with tears" when there is no context. At times the text is awkward and ungrammatical. The illustrations, which appear to be done in pastel, are well composed but cannot salvage the text. Jeanette Winter's Nasreen's Secret School (S & S, 2009) and Dedie King's I See the Sun in Afghanistan (Satya House, 2011) are better choices for introducing children to the situation in Afghanistan.-Grace Oliff, Ann Blanche Smith School, Hillsdale, NJ

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