Words in the Dust

Words in the Dust by Trent Reedy

The second 2014 Caudill Nominee I picked up to read had one thing in common with Wonder, the first nominee I read. Their main characters both have facial deformities. Auggie of Wonder has a rare syndrome that produced severe problems and required more than twenty surgeries thus far and will need additional ones in the future. He will never look normal. Zulaikha was born with a cleft palate. Her lip is split in half all the way up to her nose. Her nose is affected as well as her teeth. Her front teeth stick out forward. Cleft palates are not a problem in the western world and are usually fixed at birth. Zulaikha lives in Afghanistan. She is nearly a teenager and her family is unaware that her problem can be easily fixed. After reading Zulaikha’s story, Auggie seems like a spoiled brat.

Words in the Dust is a promise made and fulfilled by an American soldier who served a tour of duty in Afghanistan. His unit discovered a girl like Zulaikha and when American soldiers see a child in need, they set out to fix it. In the process, the author discovered a story that needed to be shared. He had felt the victim of the terrorists that carried out 9/11, but he discovered that the Afghani people were more the victim, especially the children, and in particular the girls. This male American soldier chose not to tell his story, but instead, the story of a young Afghani girl. The American soldiers are not the improbable heroes coming to the rescue. They are the bumbling, socially backward, strangers who manage to change one aspect of a young girl’s life. And he is successful! Twice, in my opinion.

Zulaikha is the daughter of an educated Afghani woman, a woman who loved classic Afghani poetry and shared it with her children. Zulaikha’s mother was killed in their home by the Taliban for keeping forbidden books in her possession. Zulaikha’s father had two wives. His second wife shows no love to Zulaikha. The young girl job is to cook and clean and run errands and watch her younger half-brothers. Another baby is on the way. Zulaikha’s future won’t change unless her father can arrange a marriage for her. Her disfigured face is a problem.

Accidently, Zulaikha runs into an old friend and teacher of her mother’s, Meena. Meena offers to teach Zulaikha how to read and write – complete the task Zulaikha’s mother began. Zulaikha learns in stolen, infrequent, moments. Education offers an alternative track for the young girl. Education would not be hindered by her appearance. The most thought-provoking portion of the book comes after Zulaikha is offered the chance to fix her appearance and Meena asks her, “If you had your surgery and you looked normal, what would you do?” The alternative to education would be marriage… and this is the second unexpected success of this book.

Zulaikha has an older sister, Zeynab. Zeynab is beautiful and of marriageable age. Through the course of the book, her marriage is arranged, to a successful business man three decades her elder. Zeynab will be the third wife. She will be the young and beautiful one, but she will also have the least seniority. She will cook and clean and watch the many children by day and she will satisfy her new husband at night. If Zulaikha’s story is one of hope, Zeynab’s is one of despair.

This is a beautiful book that gives American children a glimpse of the world of the Middle East. We do not realize how wonderful we have it. We are unaware of how bad things could be and how bad things are in other countries. I would highly recommend this book to 5^th through 8^th graders as well as older. It is a powerful, thought-provoking story based upon truth. And it is not entirely easy to read. Spoiler… Zeynab dies a tragic, horrible death.