ENDURING FREEDOM

ENDURING FREEDOM by Jawad Arash and Trent Reedy

Wow is Enduring Freedom a thought provoking book! I would be very interested to hear some weigh in from some of our members who had family or friends who served in Afghanistan after 9-11.

Let's get age recommendations out of the way first. I would recommend this book for Jr. High and older. My son is in 7th grade, and I feel like he can read it, but with some definite discussion times.

Enduring Freedom by Jawad Arash and Trent Reedy is the story of an Afghan teen, Baheer, and an American soldier, Joe Killian, who meet while Killian is deployed to Afghanistan. Before diving into this fictional account, it is important that you know that the authors, Arash and Reedy, really met while Reedy was stationed in Afghanistan.

In Enduring Freedom after 9-11, American Joe Killian can't wait to get to Afghanistan to kick some Afghan butt. The process to get there isn't what he imagined. When it's finally time to go, the job isn't what he expected. Then he meets Baheer, and he realizes the majority of Afghans aren't what he believed, American haters. They have been living under the Taliban's oppressive rule, wishing for a different life.

Through a long process with lots of hurdles to overcome, Joe and Baheer are able to form a friendship. This allows each of them to get a glimpse into the other's world. Sometimes this can get a little sticky. For example, at a Christmas party the Muslim and Christian faiths are compared. Several similarities are found, and a prayer is offered to the Lord "by whatever name each of us calls you." If you know anything about the history of Muslims and Jews it is very long and rocky and goes back to Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael. There is no way these two faiths are the same or the Jews and Muslims would be best buds in the Middle East. (Remember the Christian faith is born out of accepting Jesus as Lord who was a Jew.)

HEADS UP- This book is so squeaky clean on language until we get to a point where Baheer is translating a soldier's English. He can't understand why the soldiers says "Mother Ducker." The book doesn't clarify it, but we all know what the soldier is saying. There is one point where a Taliban soldier inappropriately touches Baheer at school. It doesn't go into details. There is one major battle at the end of the book. It happens at a school and is heartbreaking.