Book Review- Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan by Tony O'Brien and Mike Sullivan

Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan by Tony O'Brien and Mike Sullivan is a gorgeous book. O'Brien's photographs of children from Kabul and the countryside of Afghanistan are breathtaking, while the text, in those children's own words, is heartbreaking.

Flip through the book and you see the many faces of eight- to sixteen-year olds of Afghanistan. They are strong, they are radiant, they are full of pain, they are full of hope. Most of the children photographed look older than their years, and all of them have sorrow in their pasts. These kids have had terrible, hard lives, and you can see it in their eyes. They images are beautiful and haunting.

The texts are passages written in the children's own words. They describe their lives and their hopes for the future. I have mixed feelings about the text. Although I don't believe that information about the conditions in Afghanistan should be sugarcoated, I felt like the unceasing descriptions of misery and suffering painted a somewhat hopeless picture--one that I'm not sure the authors intended. More than half of the profiles are truly heartbreaking; we know that given the children's circumstances, they probably will never have a chance to realize their hopes and dreams.

But that's me. What will young readers take away from this book? Perhaps they simply need to see that there are strong, young people in war-torn areas that have the most abject conditions behind them, yet still dare to hope. Perhaps they will form their own conclusions about the heartlessness of war and its collateral damage. Though I wouldn't exactly call this book inspiring (there is not enough of a cohesive message to truly inspire any particular thoughts or actions), it is certainly incredibly thought-provoking, one way or another.

Afghan Dreams is not a book for younger children. I would only recommend it for middle school and up, and it would probably be best if the reader already had at least a basic understanding of the history and/or current events in Afghanistan.

Afghan Dreams: Young Voices of Afghanistan
by Tony O'Brien and Mike Sullivan