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Under the Persimmon Tree (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "The day begins like every day in the Kunduz Hills, following the rhythms of the sun and moon..." (more)
Key Phrases: persimmon tree, Bibi Nusrat, New York, Baba Darya (more...)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
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Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

Grade 5-8 -When her father and brother are taken by the Taliban and her mother and baby brother are killed in a bombing raid during the Afghan war in October 2001, Najmah begins an arduous journey across the border to Peshawar, Pakistan. There, she meets up with an American woman, Nusrat, who has been conducting a school for refugee children while she waits for her husband, Faiz, who has returned to his native country to open medical clinics. For most of the story, the narration alternates between Najmah and Nusrat, allowing readers to see the war's effect on both of their lives. Only when they meet can they come to terms with their losses and move on. However, readers may feel unsatisfied with the ending. Having cared for the characters and been involved in their lives, they will want to know what happens to them. The use of an American allows the author to provide a clearer description of this unfamiliar world, but because Nusrat is a grown woman, her concerns may be of less interest to readers than those of Najmah, an enterprising and enormously courageous girl. Still, Staples brings the world of the refugee camp to life. Middle grade readers and the adults who teach them will welcome this fascinating glimpse into a world about which far too little has been written.-Kathleen Isaacs, formerly at Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.


From Booklist

*Starred Review* Gr. 7-10. In the mountains of northern Afghanistan after 9/11, Najmah watches in horror as the brutal Taliban kidnap her father and older brother. Will they ever return home? When her mother and baby brother die in an American air raid, she stops speaking, and, disguised as a boy, makes a perilous journey to a refugee camp in Pakistan. In a parallel narrative, Nusrat (her American name was Elaine), who converted to Islam when she met Faiz in New York, has set up a rough school for the refugees. She has had no news of Faiz, her husband, since he left to establish a clinic in the north. The two stories come together when Najmah and Nusrat meet in the camp, where they wait in anguish for news of the people they love. Staples weaves a lot of history and politics into her story (including information about the Taliban's suppression of women), and she includes a map, a glossary, and brief background notes to give even more context. But as with her Newbery Honor Book, Shabanu (1989), it's the personal story, not the history, that compels as it takes readers beyond the modern stereotypes of Muslims as fundamentalist fanatics. There are no sweet reunions, but there's hope in heartbreaking scenes of kindness and courage. For another book about post-9/11 Afghanistan, suggest Catherine Stine's Refugees (2004). Hazel Rochman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
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Product Details

  • Reading level: Young Adult
  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR); 1st edition (July 14, 2005)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0374380252
  • ISBN-13: 978-0374380250
  • Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #368,310 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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    #44 in  Books > Children's Books > Educational > Explore the World > Fiction > Middle East

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Suzanne Fisher Staples
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Front Cover | Front Flap | First Pages | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
The day begins like every day in the Kunduz Hills, following the rhythms of the sun and moon. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
persimmon tree
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Bibi Nusrat, New York, Baba Darya, Bibi Usmani, Khala Asma, University Town, Kunduz Province, North of Afghanistan, Northern Afghanistan, Golestan Village, Middle Eastern, Dog Star, General Durrani, Red Crescent, Twin Towers, Uncle Mohiuddin
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Customer Reviews

12 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Under the Persimmon Tree, September 27, 2005
By The Careful Collector (www.thecarefulcollector.com) - See all my reviews
Under the Persimmon Tree is a look at life in Afghanistan/Pakistan in the months immediately following September 11, 2001 through the eyes of two women. One is Najmah, a young Afghan girl left alone with her pregnant mother when her father and brother are conscripted by the Taliban. Her mother and the baby are killed during an air raid over their village a short time later. Now Najmah must travel to Peshwar to find her father and brother, and save their land.
The other is Nusrat, an American teacher, convert of Islam, who came to Pakistan when her Afghan husband Faiz decided to return to his home to help those suffering because of the war. Their stories converge when Najmah is brought to Nusrat's home in Peshwar, where she teaches a school for refugee children. Together they seek answers about their families, and their future.
This is a heartbreaking story, with a solid core of hope and strength. There is no happy ending, yet the future does not seem bleak. This timely and thought-provoking book is sure to be a contender for this year's Newbery Medal.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A gem of a story placed in an unlooked for setting, September 15, 2005
This story unfolds through two perspectives: a young girl in Afghanistan and an American woman living in Pakistan, in the months immediately following 9/11. Their seemingly contradictory lifestyles share surprising similarities in their experiences, suffering and hopes, as the story draws these two together.

The narrative weaves a delicate path, sensitive amidst the hardship and loss of the period, and provides a convincing and compelling explanation for each character's motives.

The story climaxes with an ending that is poignantly true to its characters, despite the reader's wishes, yet is satisfying in its own brutal realism.

Surely a Newbery contender!
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars An amazing testament to warfare and hardship, August 27, 2005
The year is 2001. Afghanistan is in the middle of a war between the Taliban and the US- backed Northern Alliance. The story follows two extraordinary people: Najmah and Nusrat. Najmah, whose name means "star," has lost almost all of her family to the fighting. Her only remaining relative is an uncle, whose sole aim is to steal the land that her father wanted her so much to protect. Najmah has no choice, but to accompany a family of travelers, as they are the only people, it seems, that care about her. The other main character is a woman by the name of Nusrat, an American living in Peshawar, Pakistan. Her school for refugee children under her Persimmon Tree keeps her mind away from her husband, who is working in northern Afghanistan as a doctor. Through a perilous journey, Najmah comes to live with Nusrat, and their lives entwine, as Najmah studies under the persimmon tree with other children who have seen more hardship in their young lives than Nusrat has seen in her entire lifetime.

This book was an amazing testament to those who must give up their lifestyle and possessions to warfare and hardship. "Under the Persimmon Tree" gives a face to all those who surrender all individuality to the western media, and are just masses of people in their eyes. I could not put the book down. I received the book on a Friday evening, and was done by Saturday morning. The way Suzanne Fisher Staples writes is both knowledgeable and empathetic. Her firsthand experience of the change of Afghanistan from a cultural center to a barren wasteland translates very clearly into the amazing and true-to-life storyline. Ms. Staples lived in Afghanistan from the time before the Soviet Invasion that changed the country forever to the time of the Taliban takeover. The ending leaves readers to wonder, and yet a sense of closure is within a close grasp. Under the Persimmon Tree is an essential to anyone with family members fighting in Afghanistan, who follow events there, or just want to learn about the war that seems to have disappeared out of our media spotlight.

Reviewed by a student reviewer for Flamingnet Book Reviews
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Preteen and young adult book reviews and recommendations
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Persimmon Review
This book was a stimulating story about two women living in the Middle East.

First, there is Najmah. Read more
Published 8 months ago by civil class

5.0 out of 5 stars Lots of cultural insights
The Afghan war of 2001 was a vivid reminder of the brutality, anger and hatred that the division of a country can produce. Read more
Published 18 months ago by armchairinterviews.com

2.0 out of 5 stars lisa from sgs
i thought that the book was a fair read. it wouldn't be worthwhile to me to read it again and it hasn't been added to the list of books i would recommend, but to the author's... Read more
Published on February 20, 2007

3.0 out of 5 stars Natalie from SGS
I suppose it was alright, but it was a little bit dull at times, with some stereotypes about women that I don't really agree with. Read more
Published on February 17, 2007

3.0 out of 5 stars Under the Persimmon Tree
I felt that the story was overall really well done and the ideas were great. However I really wish that the author could have gone into more detail about what happened to the... Read more
Published on February 15, 2007

3.0 out of 5 stars Linnea from SGS
I felt that the story was overall really well done and the ideas were great. However I really wish that the author could have gone into more detail about what happened to the... Read more
Published on February 14, 2007

2.0 out of 5 stars Salome from SGS
The book had an excellent story line, one with plenty of potential. the only problem was that the author did not take this potential into thought. Read more
Published on February 13, 2007

1.0 out of 5 stars Pedantic, Reads like a diary
I read this for a book club, even though I've never liked the author. As usual, I had problems with her clunky writing. Read more
Published on December 17, 2006 by Sarabaite

5.0 out of 5 stars Richie's Picks: UNDER THE PERSIMMON TREE
" 'So,' she says, wiping the tears from his cheeks with the flat of her hand, a gesture that seems so motherly that her throat closes. 'Do you need a place to stay? Read more
Published on August 13, 2005 by Richie Partington

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