Three Cups of TeaBy Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin Puffin, £5.99
After a failed attempt at summiting K2, Greg Mortenson finds himself disorientated and exhausted, wandering among the lower peaks around the summit. He stumbles into the Shia village of Korphe and is nursed back to health by the impoverished community. Enormously touched by their generosity, he offers to build them a school by way of thanks. From this seemingly impetuous promise Mortenson embarks on a life-changing course of action that has seen him build more than 60 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. His tenacity and courage are jaw-dropping, and his refusal to give up, and persistence with negotiations one cup of tea at a time, beggar belief.
The original version of this book was an enormous success. This edition has been adapted and updated for younger readers, with new photographs and illustrations. The language has been simplified, and the book features an interview with Mortenson’s 12-year-old daughter, Amira (who travelled with her father as he worked around the world), a foreword by Jane Goodall, a decent glossary of terms and a good discussion-points section.
Mortenson’s story is an outstanding example of what one person can achieve, and this version of the book deserves to be as popular with children as the earlier edition has proved with adults. The drama of his adventures, and the acute observations of a rarely glimpsed part of the world, are told with empathy and elegance; this is a work of rare humanity.
Mortenson’s life has been about replacing bombs and bullets with pens and literacy, so it is fitting that this new edition should go a step further towards this. It is also apt that where adult readers of Mortenson’s book were probably astounded at his idealism, children will likely accept it in the generous manner it deserves.