Kiss the Dust [Paperback]

Elizabeth Laird (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 5 and up | Grade Level: K and up

Because the Iraqi secret police are looking for her father, Tara Hawrami and her family must flee the only home they have ever known and live in a brutal refugee camp. "An important contribution to the growing number of refugee stories".--Kirkus Reviews, pointered review. An ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Set in Iraq, this novel "weaves compelling facts about the conflict between the Arabs and the Kurds into a gripping tale about one family's escape to freedom," said PW in a starred review. Ages 10-up.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Here, Laird, author of a poignant first novel about the effects of a hydrocephalic baby on his family (Loving Ben, 1989), portrays the journey of a Kurdish refugee family--a story based on the real experiences in the mid-80's of Iraqi Kurds now living in England. For Tara, 13, and her family, their ordeal is cruel and often life-threatening, yet they are among the lucky ones. Wealthy ``Baba'' (secretly a power in the Kurdish military) still has money even after repeated searches, while ``Daya'' manages to smuggle her jewels. Escaping the police as they leave their luxurious home in a city in northern Iraq, they take a taxi to their primitive vacation house in the mountains. For Tara, the return to village ways is almost as much of a shock as the bombs that eventually drive the family over the border into Iran, to a refugee camp infested with bedbugs and assaulted by deafening prayers rasped from a loudspeaker. Eventually, Baba makes contact with relatives in Teheran and passage to London is negotiated. Ever-present dangers maintain suspense--from a brutal street-killing Tara witnesses to her older brother's miraculous escape; meanwhile, Laird builds a sympathetic picture of the embattled Kurds and a compelling portrait of Tara and the sobering changes wrought in her and her family by the events, including her first startled response to a free society (``attractive and exciting...but frightening...as if things might suddenly get out of control''). An important contribution to the growing number of refugee stories. (Fiction. 10+) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 5 and up
  
• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Puffin; 4th Printing edition (April 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0140368558
• ISBN-13: 978-0140368550
• Product Dimensions: 7.1 x 4.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #512,027 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Children's Books > People & Places > Explore the World > Fiction > Middle East
  • #85 in Books > Children's Books > Travel & Cultures > Explore the World > Middle East

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somehow Disappointed..., August 17, 2002

By 

Allyn "pianogirl" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Kiss the Dust (Paperback)

Tara Hawrami is a thirteen-year-old girl living in Iraq in the 1980's. She has what we would call a normal life-living in a nice house, going shopping with her best friend, and having the mistaken feeling that nothing particularly bad is going to happen to her. But then the inevitable comes. Tara has always known that she was a Kurd, and has maybe even faintly known that Kurds are hated by the Iraqi goverment...but one day, when walking home from school, she sees a teenaged Kurdish boy die for his beliefs.

Things all happen in short order after that, and the Hawramis, who find themselves dodging the Iraqi government, find themselves living in a remote Kurdish village that is unlike anything they have ever known. The journey continues when the village becomes the target of brutal bombing raids, and it seems that the family must become refugees in order to escape danger. Experiences in two refugee camps follow, and Tara and her family wonder if their life will ever be what it was before.

As I said before, I was disappointed with this book. It seems as if the author had a very promising topic and a character that could potentially make the story seem real to readers. But something seems flawed in this book. Laird's writing style is somehow "detached" and it doesn't really feel like you are "right there" (which is how it should in a good book). In what should have been some of the most exciting parts of the book, I felt kind of bored and ready to "get on with it." Character development seems a little weak, too. We never seemed to really get to know Tara-there was too much time spent telling what she did, not enough time spent telling what she thought.

The one great thing about this book is that it lets us know about a conflict, a people, and a time in the not-so-distant past that many of us probably don't know about. I think it's good to read books like this that open our eyes to what's happening around us; it's just too bad that the quality of writing and character development in this book was far from 5-star.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE UNPREDICTABLE LIFE OF A YOUNG KURDISH GIRL, February 27, 2000

By 

"bawkishowan" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kiss the Dust (Paperback)

As a wealthy intellectual Kurd, I always find difficulties in telling my peers about the sufferings of my people. There are millions of Kurdish refugees "suffering" around the world and host countries should have some background idea about where they come from and why they left the comfort of their homeland. To me, this book came as a God's blessing so that to order tens of copies to every friend who ever asked me about my ethnic origin and why I am not serving my people.I am just finished with A Kurdish review on the book in the most widely circulated Kurdish newspaper. If you ever come across with a Kurd in your civilized world and feel bad about living on your tax payments, please read this book to realize that "Tara" and her examples were not beggars; they were just victims of this crazy world. The author should be congratulated for this outstanding work. She seems to know more of our culture than many of the true nationals. She must have lived between us for years to come up with this three dimentional insight into our culture, emotions and feelings. The book is very readable and of the right size. The cover is impeccable.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was awesome and exciting!!!!!, April 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Kiss the Dust (Paperback)

I thought that this book was really good we are reading the book in Language Arts and study its history