Nasreen's Secret School

Nasreen's Secret School
by
Jeanette Winter
children's nonfiction ages 3-6

Nasreen's parents are taken from her home as political prisoners, or maybe they are killed. Nasreen and her grandmother do not know. School has also been banned for girls in her town in Afghanistan. Nasreen falls silent and has nothing to do. One day her grandmother learns about a clandestine school and enrolls Nasreen. Nasreen, through fellowship with other girls, the teacher's caring, and through learning to read, slowly starts to recover from her shocking experience. There is still hope that she might have a bright future.

The story ends like that. Then end was satisfying enough for me as an adult, but my child listeners wanted to know what happened to the parents and what did Nasreen do when she grew up and many other unanswered questions. I had to tell my audience that I didn't know. Maybe some day the real Nasreen will be able to tell her own story freely and openly.

TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure: Tink's Treasure Hunt

Disney Fairies: TinkerBell and the Lost Treasure, Tink's Treasure Hunt: Step into Reading, Reading on Your Own, Step Three, Grades 1-3
by
Melissa Lagonegro and the Disney Storybook Artists
ages 5-8
TinkerBell breaks the Moonstone while trying to make a special scepter. How can she fix her mistake? Is she clever enough to do it all on her own or does she need her friends to help her? The plot is kind of convoluted. I suspect this is because they are trying to condense a lot of information from the movie into a short children's book (48 pages). The good news is that the plot moves along quite a bit since there is a lot to say.
One of the morals of this story is to work on fixing something if you mess up. Another is to work as a team and not be prideful.
I suspect that only girls will want to read this book since it is TinkerBell after all.