Thunder over Kandahar by Sharon McKay

Book:  Thunder over Kandahar 


Author:  Sharon McKay


Grade:  C


Recommended To:  Young Adults 


I ordered this book from PBS and was waiting foreverrrr to get it in the mail.  Finally it came and I think it is a young adult novel.  I must have been aware at some point what the book was about, but after waiting months, I forgot.  Turns out that is is about two teenagers who live in Afghanistan and who escape.

I'm still not completely sure that this book is "young adult" but it has super big print, poor editing, extremely simple sentence structure, and is about two 14-year-olds.  So, all of these clues lead me to believe that it is actually a book for children.  I'm disappointed because of this.  I was not at all made aware that this book was actually for young adults.

Plus, I don't really like books that are overly dramatic.  If you are going to read Thunder over Kandahar then you should stop reading this post now because there are going to be spoilers.  First, these idiot parents move their daughter from England to Afghanistan during the US occupation, the kid has to wear a hijab and a burka for the first time ever. Culture shock anyone? Then the mother is attacked in the street, and oh, guess what, the dad refuses to leave, even though there aren't any hospitals that will treat women.  Then, the daughter is attacked for something completely unreasonable and they parents talk about leaving, but don't.  Then, the parents are shot in the street.  See where I'm going with this?

This book is approximately 200 pages long and there have been three violent incidents in half the book.  The drama doesn't end there, but you'll have to read it to find out.  I don't want to spoil everything.  The most shocking thing about this book was how dumb the parents were.  Oh Hey, let's bring  our adolescent daughter to a war torn country where there aren't any schools.  And YOU get the parent of the year award!

How infuriating.

Anyway, if you are looking for something fast to up your book total on Goodreads (not that I would ever do that) then this is the book for you, but don't expect to be impressed.

Happy Reading!!