BookDragon Books for the Diverse Reader

Mahtab’s Story by Libby Gleeson

Mahtab's StoryWhen 12-year-old Mahtab’s father returns home with obvious signs of torture, and her grandfather is forever lost, her family knows it can no longer live in Taliban-controlled Herat, Afghanistan. Her best friend has already left without saying goodbye, hoping to find refuge somewhere in Iran. Now Mahtab and her family must leave her beloved grandmother and the rest of the extended family in search of survival and freedom.

Mahtab, her mother, and her two younger siblings begin their frightening journey hidden in the back of a truck, while her father rides in the front, bribing officials when necessary to get the family safely to Pakistan. There the father must leave his family behind, traveling alone to Australia where he hopes he will be able to prepare a secure new life for his wife and children. They must patiently wait, hidden, desperate, and unsure of their tenuous future. Days and weeks become many, many months … the younger children begin to wonder if they can remember their father’s face … and even Mahtab begins to doubt that the family will ever be safely reunited again.

Mahtab’s Story is inspired by a true story, the book’s cover reveals. In the afterword, award-winning Australian author Libby Gleeson recalls that she was introduced to a group of refugee girls in a Sydney high school in 2004: “Their stories of persecution and fear in their own countries and their escape to Australia were so compelling that I felt I had to write about that experience.” She stresses, however, that this is a novel, not a biography. And yet, this is also sadly a very familiar tale in our contemporary world of questionable wars and the countless innocent victims who must risk everything for survival. In the end, Mahtab’s is undoubtedly one of the lucky stories …

Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult

Published: 2008, 2009 (United States)

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