WORDS IN THE DUST

A contemporary 13-year-old Muslim teen’s life changes profoundly when American forces arrive in her war-torn Afghanistan village. Born with a cleft palate, Zulaikha’s tormented by boys calling her “donkey-face,” adults averting their eyes and an insensitive stepmother. With marriage unlikely, Zulaikha secretly learns to read and write, emulating her birth mother, who was murdered by the Taliban for keeping books. As the Americans build a village school, Zulaikha’s father wins a construction contract and arranges a marriage for her beloved sister with a wealthy older man. When the Americans fly her to Kandahar for successful reconstructive surgery, Zulaikha finally looks and feels normal until family tragedy strikes and she realizes “normal” isn’t everything. Drawing from personal experiences in Afghanistan, Reedy creates a multidimensional heroine who introspectively reflects on how to “be patient enough to forget all the ugliness and focus on . . . good things” in an oppressive culture where women are undervalued. An inside look at an ordinary Afghanistan family trying to survive in extraordinary times, it is both heart-wrenching and timely. (pronunciation guide, glossary, author’s note, notes on Persian poetry, recommended reading) (Fiction. 9-13)