New York Times Review
IN September 1993, cold, hungry and lost after a failed ascent of K2, Greg Mortenson stumbled into the village of Korphe, Pakistan. His misstep forever changed the lives of thousands of Pakistani and Afghan children. In gratitude to the people of the village who helped him, Mortenson vowed to build a school for their children, who were studying in the open air, scratching in the mud with sticks. Keeping that vow turned Mortenson - a laid-back drifter, emergency nurse by profession and climber by avocation - into a driven fund-raiser who helped found, and now directs, the Central Asia Institute. Mortenson didn't stop with one school: realizing how desperately children in the region needed education, he traveled to the remotest outposts of Pakistan and Afghanistan to create more. His foundation has built 78 schools, which have educated 28,000 children, including more than 18,000 girls, who had rarely received an education before. This story is familiar by now to the 1.2 million adults who have kept Mortenson's book "Three Cups of Tea" on the bestseller list for more than two years. The success of his book has led to these two new versions for young readers. "Listen to the Wind" tells Mortenson's story in the clear, succinct voices of the children of Korphe. Leaving out background and history, the picture-book version is nevertheless true to the spirit of Mortenson's experience and mission. The minimal text is splendidly paired with Susan L. Roth's textural, earth-toned collages, which evoke the roughness of the terrain and the primitive quality of life there. A community spirit pervades: on nearly every spread, we see the multitude of villagers (girls in colorful headscarves; dark-haired boys) who worked with Mortenson to build their school. "Our mothers carried water to mix the cement. . . . With our small fingers we wedged tiny slivers of stones into the cement to make the walls stronger." The raw quality of the art is counterbalanced by a "Korphe Scrapbook" of color photos documenting the people and places, helping answer a child's question: Is this true? "Three Cups of Tea: Young Readers Edition" aims to stay faithful to Mortenson's story and to inspire readers. It is chockfull of extras, including an introduction by Jane Goodall, a timeline, a glossary, a "who's who" and a lengthy, affecting interview with Mortenson's 12-year-old daughter, Amira. Framed by so many elements, however, the story itself loses impact. Boldface vocabulary words direct readers to the glossary but are distracting and create an off-putting textbook aura. In her pared-down version, Sarah Thomson has kept the pacing and the cast of characters intact, but flat renditions of events like Mortenson's armed kidnapping, just weeks before the birth of his daughter, fail to capture the power of the original. Yet this edition is valuable: Children have contributed in practical ways to Mortenson's mission, and there is no shyness here about calling them to action. Krystyna Poray Goddu's most recent book is "Dollmakers and Their Stories." |
Library Journal Review
Rescued by Pakistani villagers after a failed attempt at climbing K2, Mortenson vowed to build them a school. Twelve years later, his Central Asia Institute has built 55 schools (some serving girls) despite fatwas and worse. With a six-city tour. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |
Publishers Weekly Review
Some failures lead to phenomenal successes, and this American nurse's unsuccessful attempt to climb K2, the world's second tallest mountain, is one of them. Dangerously ill when he finished his climb in 1993, Mortenson was sheltered for seven weeks by the small Pakistani village of Korphe; in return, he promised to build the impoverished town's first school, a project that grew into the Central Asia Institute, which has since constructed more than 50 schools across rural Pakistan and Afghanistan. Coauthor Relin recounts Mortenson's efforts in fascinating detail, presenting compelling portraits of the village elders, con artists, philanthropists, mujahideen, Taliban officials, ambitious school girls and upright Muslims Mortenson met along the way. As the book moves into the post-9/11 world, Mortenson and Relin argue that the United States must fight Islamic extremism in the region through collaborative efforts to alleviate poverty and improve access to education, especially for girls. Captivating and suspenseful, with engrossing accounts of both hostilities and unlikely friendships, this book will win many readers' hearts. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved |
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6-8-Hiking in the mountains of Pakistan in 1993, Mortenson got lost. He found his way to a small village where the locals helped him recover from his ordeal. While there, he noticed that the students had no building and did all of their schooling out of doors. Motivated to repay the kindness he had received, he vowed to return to the village and help build a school. Thus began his real life's journey. Mortenson's story recounts the troubles he faced in the U.S. trying to raise the money and then in Pakistan, trying to get the actual supplies to a remote mountain location. His eventual success led to another, and yet another, until he established a foundation and built a string of schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Mortenson manages to give the story an insider's feel despite being an outsider himself. His love of the region and the people is evident throughout and his dedication to them stalwart. The writing is lively, if simplistic, and for the most part the story moves along at a fairly quick clip. In this specially adapted edition for young people, new photographs and an interview with Mortenson's young daughter, who often travels with him, have been added.-Jody Kopple, Shady Hill School, Cambridge, MA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. |