My novel Street of Storytellers has won a third national book award, second top honor for all fiction from the IndieReader Discovery Awards — but it was just as exciting for me this month to help complete the first school study-unit project with the novel. This post shares some responses to the novel by seventh graders and their ELA teachers at Castleton Village School in Castleton, Vermont.

I received and responded to thoughtful letters from the students, and we had a lively Google Meet conversation. I finished with hugely renewed respect for how teachers have somehow helped rich learning happen this spring — and I was uplifted by the connections the seventh graders made with the novel’s American, Pakistani and Afghan characters.

Here are a few quotes from the students’ letters, shared with permission, plus brief reflections on the study unit by teachers Annie Crumb and Karon Chanski:

From the students:I really loved this book. It was amazing and one of my favorites. I loved how each character changed.

I thought the setting was really cool. I liked how different it was to the United States. I like how every place you go, the culture is different. I find it really interesting.