Three Cups Of Tea by Greg Mortensen
I am an idiot. My book club is reading this book for our June selection so when I found it I didn't even look beyond the title. The cover said "Three Cups of Tea" so I bought it. It seemed a little lightweight when I started reading it, with short sentences, simple wording etc., then I noticed the cover...it clearly says "Young Readers Edition". I read the entire book in just over an hour. I'm sure the basic story is the same, but I probably missed out on a lot of extra stories and details.
I have no idea how to write about a "Young Reader's" book; I wouldn't even attempt to say what a young reader would consider "good", especially in a true story like this one. So I'll just tell you about some of the book's impressive "physical" features.
There are quite a number of colored photographs in the book that give faces to some of the prominent characters and also show the work that is being accomplished. There is a time-line, a glossary that I think is great for that age group and a who's who to help sort out all the people involved in the story. Also included is an interesting interview with the author's daughter about her part in the work that her father started in Pakistan. Discussion questions are included at the end of the book, along with research and writing activities and there are maps to show you the various areas the author refers to.
All in all it appears that a great deal of work went into creating a book appropriate for younger readers and I thought all the extra features were great. But I still wish I had read the "grown-up" version. Maybe next time I'll be more careful when I'm shopping. One can hope.
P.S. We had our Book Club meeting tonight and several others mistakenly bought the Young Reader's version as well, leaving me feeling slightly less stupid.
