Different Paths - Exploring Culture & Young Adult Fiction
Explore culture and identity through powerful young adult fiction, featuring Sherman Alexie's *The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian* and Suzanne Fisher Staples' moving sagas like *Shabanu* and *Haveli*. This curated list of books delves into diverse paths of self-discovery, multiculturalism, and resilience.
Book
Under the Persimmon Tree
by Suzanne Fisher Staples
During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmah, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her huband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
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Shabanu
by Suzanne Fisher Staples
When eleven-year old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present-day Pakistan, is pledged in marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes.
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Haveli
by Suzanne Fisher Staples
In this sequel to the Newbery Honor book "Shabanu, " Shabanu, the youngest ofRahim's four wives, flees with her daughter to Rahim's old family home in thecity to escape the cruelty and jealously of his other wives.
Book
Shiva's Fire
by Suzanne Fisher Staples
In India, a talented dancer sacrifices friends and family for her art.
Book
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
by Sherman Alexie
Budding cartoonist Junior leaves his troubled school on the Spokane Indian Reservation to attend an all-white farm town school where the only other Indian is the school mascot.