Title: Three Cups of Tea
Author: Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
ISBN: 0670034827
Plot Summary: Greg Mortenson, a young American mountain climber, becomes stranded in a remote Pakistani village while attempting to climb K2. After the villagers nurse him back to health, he comes to see how the village childrens' lack of education has negatively impacted their community. Promising to come back and help them build and finance a school, he sells his possessions back in the United States and begins the long, arduous process of securing funding, materials, construction, teachers, and materials for the school. This quest eventually turns into an organization devoted to building non-denominational schools for boys and girls alike across areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan that are most subject to targeting by terrorist organizations looking for recruits. Although outnumbered and outfinanced by the Taliban and Al Quaeda, Mortensen's Central Asia Institute begins to bring about positive change in these remote, unstable areas.
Showing posts with label Current Events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Current Events. Show all posts
Streams of Babel
Title: Streams of Babel
Author: Carol Plum-Ucci
ISBN: 0152165568
Plot Summary: Cora Holman is a high school outcast with a tormented, drug-addicted mother. When her mother and several neighbors die of a mysterious new ailment, Cora and her friends become increasingly alarmed when they too start getting sick. She and her friend Scott discover an abandoned store which appears to have been occupied by, and bears graffiti from, terrorists. Meanwhile, Shahzad Hamdani, a young Pakistani computer genius, has begun to notice some disturbing internet chatter among terrorist groups regarding a new weapon known only as Red Vinegar. Shahzad and Cora's lives will intersect as they both try to figure out what is killing people in Cora's neighborhood, who is causing it, and how it can be stopped.
Author: Carol Plum-Ucci
ISBN: 0152165568
Plot Summary: Cora Holman is a high school outcast with a tormented, drug-addicted mother. When her mother and several neighbors die of a mysterious new ailment, Cora and her friends become increasingly alarmed when they too start getting sick. She and her friend Scott discover an abandoned store which appears to have been occupied by, and bears graffiti from, terrorists. Meanwhile, Shahzad Hamdani, a young Pakistani computer genius, has begun to notice some disturbing internet chatter among terrorist groups regarding a new weapon known only as Red Vinegar. Shahzad and Cora's lives will intersect as they both try to figure out what is killing people in Cora's neighborhood, who is causing it, and how it can be stopped.
The Kite Runner
Title: The Kite Runner
Author: Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 1594480001
Plot Summary: Amir led a privileged life in Afghanistan prior to the Communist revolution: he and his father lived in a spacious villa with servants, and his father was a well-respected man in his community. Amir had an unequal yet genuine friendship with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Yet when Hassan is brutally attacked by a group of boys, Amir stands by and does nothing, and later falsely accuses his friend of stealing, causing both him and his father to leave the estate, so that he will not have to feel guilty anymore. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Amir and his father have to leave the country, eventually moving to Fremont, California, where Amir meets and falls in love with a young woman from the local Afghan community. After his father's death, Amir gets a telephone call from an old family friend, asking him to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son. In the process, Amir comes face to face with parts of his past that he would rather forget, and slowly tries to help his best friend's son begin the healing process.
Author: Khaled Hosseini
ISBN: 1594480001
Plot Summary: Amir led a privileged life in Afghanistan prior to the Communist revolution: he and his father lived in a spacious villa with servants, and his father was a well-respected man in his community. Amir had an unequal yet genuine friendship with Hassan, the son of his father's servant. Yet when Hassan is brutally attacked by a group of boys, Amir stands by and does nothing, and later falsely accuses his friend of stealing, causing both him and his father to leave the estate, so that he will not have to feel guilty anymore. After the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, Amir and his father have to leave the country, eventually moving to Fremont, California, where Amir meets and falls in love with a young woman from the local Afghan community. After his father's death, Amir gets a telephone call from an old family friend, asking him to come back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's son. In the process, Amir comes face to face with parts of his past that he would rather forget, and slowly tries to help his best friend's son begin the healing process.
Little Brother
Title: Little Brother
Author: Cory Doctorow
ISBN: 0765319853
Plot Summary: Marcus is a high school student in the San Francisco of the near, dystopian future. His every move is tracked electronically, either by cameras, bar codes, computers, or even the free laptop computers distributed by his school. But he is a computer genius, and he and his friends Jolu, Van and Darryl have determined a number of ways to beat the system. That is, until they all get caught in the midst of a terrorist attack on the city and are detained by the Department of Homeland Security. In the aftermath of the event, his subsequent "enhanced interrogation," and the disappearance of one of his friends Marcus becomes determined to beat the DHS at their own game, with his other friends as sometimes unwilling accomplices.
Author: Cory Doctorow
ISBN: 0765319853
Plot Summary: Marcus is a high school student in the San Francisco of the near, dystopian future. His every move is tracked electronically, either by cameras, bar codes, computers, or even the free laptop computers distributed by his school. But he is a computer genius, and he and his friends Jolu, Van and Darryl have determined a number of ways to beat the system. That is, until they all get caught in the midst of a terrorist attack on the city and are detained by the Department of Homeland Security. In the aftermath of the event, his subsequent "enhanced interrogation," and the disappearance of one of his friends Marcus becomes determined to beat the DHS at their own game, with his other friends as sometimes unwilling accomplices.
Crank
Title: Crank
Author: Ellen Hopkins
ISBN: 0689865198
Other Book in Series: Glass
Plot Summary: Kristina is a bright, talented high school student dealing with the breakup of her parents' marriage. When she goes to visit her father, she falls in love twice over: with the boy she meets there, and with the drug, crystal meth, he introduces her to. While meth brings out her fearless side at first, Kristina soon finds the drug taking over, and ultimately threatening, her life.
Author: Ellen Hopkins
ISBN: 0689865198
Other Book in Series: Glass
Plot Summary: Kristina is a bright, talented high school student dealing with the breakup of her parents' marriage. When she goes to visit her father, she falls in love twice over: with the boy she meets there, and with the drug, crystal meth, he introduces her to. While meth brings out her fearless side at first, Kristina soon finds the drug taking over, and ultimately threatening, her life.
The Complete Persepolis
Title: The Complete Persepolis
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839
Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.
Author: Marjane Satrapi
ISBN: 0375714839
Plot Summary: The first half of the book deal's with the author's life as a young girl in pre- and post-Revolution Iran, during the Iran-Iraq War, and as a student at a time when there were many restrictions on what female students could and could not do. Her parents, initially in favor of the Revolution, become disillusioned when the result is not the socialist government they had hoped for, and eventually send Marjane to Europe, as they feel it is too dangerous for her in Iran. The second half deals with Marjane struggling to adjust to life, love and school in Europe at a time when few people truly understood what was happening in her home country. When she returns home after a disastrous romance, she finds that she too has changed, and Iran is no longer the home she remembers. She still loves her parents and they her, but ultimately departs again for Europe, this time for good.
Does My Head Look Big in This?
Title: Does My Head Look Big in This?
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
ISBN: 978-0439922333
Plot Summary: Amal, a Palestinian-Australian teenage girl, decides to start wearing the hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering for women. She does so despite concerns from her immigrant parents, friction from other students at her elite private high school, and even job discrimination. Ultimately, she is able to get the other people in her life to come to terms with her decision, but not without some sacrifices and conflicts along the way.
Author: Randa Abdel-Fattah
ISBN: 978-0439922333
Plot Summary: Amal, a Palestinian-Australian teenage girl, decides to start wearing the hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering for women. She does so despite concerns from her immigrant parents, friction from other students at her elite private high school, and even job discrimination. Ultimately, she is able to get the other people in her life to come to terms with her decision, but not without some sacrifices and conflicts along the way.
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