Extra Credit

Author:	Clements, Andrew Elliott, Mark (Ilt)
Binding:	Paperback
List Price:	$10.99
Our Price:	$2.80 CAD
Qty Avail:	56

Additional Info
Overview

ISBN:	9781416949312
Publisher:	Atheneum Books
Language:	English
Page Count:	224
Publication Date:	2/1/2011
Size:	7.70" l x 5.12" w x 0.64"
Series:	N/A

Category	Subject
Tweens Fiction	Social Situations

It isn't that Abby Carson can't do her schoolwork. She just doesn't like doing it. And consequently, Abby will have to repeat sixth grade - unless she meets some specific conditions, including taking on an extra credit project: find a pen pal in a distant country. But when Abby's first letter arrives at a small school in Afghanistan, complications arise. The elders agree that any letters going back to America must be written well, but the only qualified English-speaking student is a boy. And in this village, it's not proper for a boy to correspond with a girl. So, Sadeed's sister will dictate and sign the letters for him. 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?

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 each other. And in just a few short weeks, they make important discoveries about their communities, about their world, and most of all, about themselves.