I am Nujood

I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced was a great read!  I read this book very quickly because I couldn't put it down!  It was another one of those books that gave a completely different perspective on life in other parts of the world.  Like I said in a previous post, sometimes I feel like I have lived in my own little "bubble" of a world and had not been exposed to many of these things, or I guess I just didn't want to think that these things happened today.  This book reminded me a lot of The Kite Runner in that the main characters had to deal with very difficult situations.  It was hard to believe that Nujood would be married off at such a young age and have to deal with these things.  I tried to picture myself as a ten year old, and my biggest problem was if I got in a little argument with my friends over who got to use the better Barbie.  I can't imagine having to face marriage to a stranger and being taken from your family and then to endure the rape and abuse from her husband.  She had to grow up so fast, but she showed so much courage when she went to court demanding a divorce.  I was happy that her story had a happy ending, as I am sure there are many who do not.  I also really liked how there were so many women in power for Nujood to look up to after having been to court and then spending some time in the spotlight sharing her story.  I don't know that I would have been so strong at her age.

Although the main character in this book is so young, I definitely see this book as more of a high school read rather than a middle school read.  I even think it would have to be a mature group of high schoolers only because the content is a lot to handle and take in.  It is sometimes hard to believe that these things still happen in our world, and I can see a reader brushing this off as work of fiction rather than a serious story.  This might work well in a literature circle where you could select a group of students to read this work.