Lovely story about a Afghan girl's perseverance after surviving a tragic accident with a land mine (this is not directly discussed) and losing her leg. Aria wants to continue her education, but finds it very difficult to sit on the floor of her school room with her helper leg. All of the school's furniture was burned by displaced families to keep warm during the winter months of fighting. Aira rises to the challenge by building her own bench for the school room with her mother's support even though her classmates say that girls don't do such things. When Aria surprises her classmates with the blue bench she has built, she inspires the girls to build more furniture for their school.

I thought the voice of Aria was authentic and the book is a thoughtful introduction to the ramifications of the war in Afghanistan and the impacts on children. Illustrations are colorful and vibrant. ( )

This book is about a young girl who is an amputee and has the added factor of needing a prosthetic, or what she calls her "helper leg". As a young girl going to school in Afghanistan, she realizes that she requires a bench to sit at during classes, which is what prompts her to build it herself. I would recommend this book to kinder-2nd or third grade students. This book would be most appropriate for that age group because I feel that those are the ages where this book can be most understood and appreciated. Within that, kindergarten students may not fully comprehend the significance of the book, but they can appreciate the amount of color that is used.

Afghanistan