The Library Bus

Pari, a young Afghani girl, takes her first trip on her mom’s library bus as she drives to small villages and refugee camps to drop off library books for girls, distribute pencils and notebooks, and teach them some English. As they travel, they talk about Pari starting school the next year and her mom explains that when she was a child, girls were not allowed to attend school, so her father secretly taught her. This engaging, timely Canadian picture book emphasizes the importance and power of education and learning and connects to the Taliban’s prohibition on female education. It can launch discussions of the right to education for children and the ways education is delivered around the world.