Listen to the Wind

I have had the book Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson sitting on my "to read" stack for over a year. Just this past week he visited the college near where I live and spoke. Unfortunately I couldn't go to see him because I was busy that night, so I feel kind of left out - especially when people tell me how wonderful his speech was. For weeks prior to the visit there was a lot of promotion going on for his books. I have been reading the picture book version of his story of traveling to Pakistan and helping to build schools there to my students. The pictures are done in beautiful collage art, which leads my students to inquire numerous times whether this is a "true story." After listening to the story which they enjoy, they are always quite interested in the photographs at the end where they can actually see the bridge that was built and the school that is now completed. I haven't had any great discussion about how important helping others is....maybe that is more for the older students. While that is part of the message of Listen to the Wind I am not sure that the students are picking up on that so much on their own. I have emphasized how prior to the building of the school by Mortenson the students students studied outside - and the photographs do a great job of portraying how different our lives are from theirs. Three Cups of Tea continues to sit on my "to read" stack, but at least I feel like I know what the story is about after I have read Listen to the Wind.