Extra Credit

It isn't that Abby Carson can't do her schoolwork. She just doesn't like doing it. And in February a warning letter arrives at her home. Abby will have to repeat sixth grade--unless she meets some specific conditions, including taking on an extra-credit project to find a pen pal in a distant country. Seems simple enough. But when Abby's first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, the village elders agree that any letters going back to America must be written well. In English. And the only qualified student is a boy, Sadeed Bayat. Except in this village, it is not proper for a boy to correspond with a girl. So Sadeed's younger sister will write the letters. Except she knows hardly any English. So Sadeed must write the letters. For his sister to sign. But what about the villagers who believe that girls should not be anywhere near a school? And what about those who believe that any contact with Americans is . . . unhealthy? Not so simple. But as letters flow back and forth--between the prairies of Illinois and the mountains of central Asia, across cultural and religious divides, through the minefields of different lifestyles and traditions--a small group of children begin to speak and listen to one another. And in just a few short weeks, they make important discoveries about their communities, about their world, and most of all, about themselves.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Atheneum Books for Young Readers
Published: 06/23/2009
ISBN: 9781416949299
Pages: 192
Weight: 0.65lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.70w x 0.80d
Award: Delaware Diamonds Award - Nominee
Award: Parents Choice Awards (Fall) (2008-Up) - Recommended
Award: Christopher Awards - Winner
Award: Beehive Awards - Nominee
Award: West Virginia Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Black-Eyed Susan Award - Nominee
Award: Nutmeg Book Award - Nominee
Award: Georgia Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Charlie May Simon Children's Book Award - Nominee
Award: Grand Canyon Reader Award - Nominee
Award: Land of Enchantment Book Award - Nominee
Award: Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Award - Nominee
Award: William Allen White Childens Book Award - Nominee
Award: Volunteer State Book Awards - Nominee
Award: South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award - Nominee
Award: Iowa Children's Choice (ICCA) Award - Nominee
Award: Sunshine State Young Reader's Award - Nominee
Award: Sequoyah Book Awards - Nominee
Award: Golden Sower Award - Nominee
Award: Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award - Nominee
Award: Rebecca Caudill Young Readers Book Award - Nominee
Award: Middle East Book Awards - Honorable Mention

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 06/08/2009 pg. 43
Booklist 06/01/2009 pg. 55
Horn Book Magazine 07/01/2009 pg. 418
School Library Journal 08/01/2009 pg. 100
Bulletin of Ctr for Child Bks 09/01/2009
Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2009 pg. 365 - Superior,Well Above Average
Multicultural Review 05/01/2010 pg. 74

Accelerated Reader Quiz #/Name: 130571 / Extra Credit
Reading Level: 5.3 / Interest Level: Middle Grade / Point Value: 5