Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson

This book is non-fiction, and I gave it a rating of four out of five. It may not appeal to some readers, since it doesn't have the descriptive plot and character developments. However, it has conflict. Greg Mortensen was coming back down K2, the second highest mountain in the world, when he got separated and lost from his party. He came upon a village in Pakistan and recovered. He decided that he would come back some day and build a school for the children there; they were scratching their multiplication facts into the dirt with sticks! This plan may seem simple, but there were political and cultural obstacles along the way. He was even kidnapped by rebels at one point and was help captive for days. Greg made it his life's work to build more schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan despite the dangers. He felt knowledge and hope would help bring peace to these countries.

I was a bit leery at the beginning of the book, but it was very interesting. I didn't expect Greg to have so many problems getting a school built, but the citizens of Pakistan were so desperate that the different towns were competing with each other for Greg's help. I guess the terrorist danger was foreseeable if I'd thought about it ahead of time. The end of the book is an interview with Greg's daughter, and students may find these pages interesting an revealing. It was hard for her to share her father with the rest of the world.

Lexile level from lexile.com 910