Shooting Kabul (25 page)

Shooting Kabul
ends on a hopeful note with the election of President Karzai. By the end of 2001 the Taliban had been forced to the fringes of the country and a new hope had reawakened in the country. Unfortunately, nearly a decade later, the Taliban have surged again. The government in Kabul today, under Karzai, with U.S. backing, continues to emphasize a central government in Kabul while neglecting the rest of the country. This does not bode well for Afghans who want nothing more than the basic necessities—clean water, employment, education, and security. It saddens me that Afghanistan is yet again at a crossroads, with its people caught at the center of indecision and conflict. They are a people with a resilient and long history, desiring peace for their children and respect from the outside world. But I, like others, still have hope—hope that peace, security, and prosperity will come,
insha'
Allah.

B
OOKS

Ali, Sharifah Enayat.
Afghanistan (Cultures of the World)
. New York: Benchmark Books, 2006.

Armstrong, Jennifer. S
hattered: Stories of Children and War
. New York: Laurel-Leaf, 2003.

Banting, Erinn.
Afghanistan: The Land (Lands, Peoples, and Cultures)
. New York: Crabtree Publishing, 2003.

Clements, Andrew.
Extra Credit
. New York: Atheneum, 2009.

Ellis, Deborah.
The Breadwinner
. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2001.

———.
Mud City
. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2004.

———.
Parvana's Journey
. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2003.

Mortenson, Greg.
Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Journey to Change the World … One Child at a Time (The Young Reader's Edition)
. New York: Puffin, 2009.

O'Brien, Tony, and Mike Sullivan. A
fghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan
. New York: Bloomsbury USA Children's
Books, 2008.

Staples, Suzanne Fisher.
Under the Persimmon Tree
. New York: Square Fish, 2008.

Weber, Valerie J.
I Come from Afghanistan (This Is My Story)
. Pleasantville, NY: Weekly Reader Early Learning Library, 2006.

Whitfield, Susan.
National Geographic Countries of the World: Afghanistan
. Des Moines: National Geographic Children's Books, 2008.

W
EBSITES

CIA World Factbook

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/af.html

BBC News Country Profile: Afghanistan

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/country_profiles/1162668.stm

National Geographic

http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/places/
countries/country_afghanistan.html

Oxfam's Cool Planet: Afghanistan

http://www.oxfam.org.uk/coolplanet/kidsweb/world/afghan/index.htm

World Atlas

http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/asia/af.htm

SIMON & SCHUSTER BOOKS FOR YOUNG READERS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division

1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2010 by Naheed Hasnat

All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected].

The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at
www.simonspeakers.com
.

Book design by Lizzy Bromley

Map illustration by Drew Willis

The text for this book is set in Bembo.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Senzai, N. H.

Shooting Kabul / N. H. Senzai.

p. cm.

“A Paula Wiseman book.”

Summary: Escaping from Taliban-controlled Afghanistan in the summer of 2001, eleven-year-old Fadi and his family immigrate to the San Francisco Bay Area, where Fadi schemes to return to the Pakistani refugee camp where his little sister was accidentally left behind.

ISBN 978-1-4424-0194-5 (hardcover : alk. paper)

1. Afghan Americans—California—San Francisco Bay Area—Juvenile fiction.
a[1. Afghan Americans—Fiction. 2. Refugees—Fiction. 3. Emigration and immigration—Fiction. 4. San Francisco Bay Area (Calif.)—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.S47953Sh 2010

[Fic]—dc22

2009041148

ISBN 978-1-4424-0196-9 (eBook)