Three Cups of Tea (Young Reader’s Edition) – Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin

Author: Greg Mortenson & David Oliver Relin, adapted by Sarah Thomson
Title: Three Cups of Tea
Publisher: Puffin
Publication Date: 2009
Age range: 10 - 16
Genre: Nonfiction / Selective Biography
Rating: 1 2 3 4 5

Plot summary: This edition is adapted from the bestselling adult version, also called Three Cups of Tea. Greg Mortenson set out to climb K2 in Pakistan, the world’s second-highest mountain. His plan was to honour the memory of his sister, leaving a necklace that belonged to her at the summit. Mortenson didn’t make it to the summit, however, when all did not go as planned with his climbing party. On his way back down the mountain Mortenson got separated from his climbing party and stumbled, hungry and dehydrated, into the village of Korphe where he was treated as an honoured guest and taken care of though the people had little extra to give. Mortenson was grateful to his hosts, and observed a bit of village life during his recuperation in the village. He found out that the children in the village had no school, and shared a teacher with another mountain village, so that each group of children had an instructor only three days per week. On days when they had no teacher they would gather anyway and scratch out their math problems with sticks on the hard ground. Mortenson was amazed that the children had no facility or supplies to learn with, yet tried to learn whatever they could anyway. Mortenson promised to build Korphe a school, and returned to America to raise the money.

Mortenson sacrificed everything in his own life to raise the money needed to build a school for Korphe, and made some amazing friendships and connections along the way. His passion and dedication to the cause inspired other people to help raise money, including school children, fellow mountain climbers, and wealthy businessmen who wanted to give something back to the global community. Though it was a daunting task to get the school built in Korphe, as the village was nearly inaccessible, and a river had to be crossed to get the supplies into the village, Mortenson persevered. Ultimately, he was inspired to continue building schools in Pakistan and later Afghanistan. Mortenson believes wholeheartedly that by educating some of the world’s poorest children, he can play a role in promoting peace and strong communities.

Comments: This book is accessible and clearly written, and a wonderful read for young people who may be curious about children and youth in other parts of the world. There are a number of color photos inserted in the book for visual learners to get a better sense of what the landscape, people, and projects Mortenson has worked on are like. Life is so different in the communities that Mortenson worked with and visited, compared to North America. Reading about the willingness of very poor people to share everything they have is inspirational. The title refers to the regional proverb that when you first share a cup of tea, you are strangers. The next time you share tea you are friends. And the third time, you are family. Much of the bargaining and discussions Mortenson participates in take place over cups of tea, and Mortenson learns the value of taking the time to get to know a community rather than simply swooping in and trying to do what an outside perceives as best for the local people.

It is amazing what some of the children and teenagers would do to try to get some education, and incredible what their parents and communities would sacrifice to make that happen. Another large issue in the book is that of educating females; due to religious opinions that women should not be educated, Mortenson came up against certain obstacles in his quest to make sure that all children would get an education. His experience seemed to be that the communities and villages themselves generally wanted the girls to be educated, but sometimes there was a fear in the people that the regional religious leaders would find out and be angry. This is a fantastic book for juvenile and young adult readers, and hopefully they will gain an appreciation for how fortunate they are in receiving a guaranteed education in the western world, while considering how they too can help to promote peace and support giving an education to all who want and need it.

Dates Read: 26 March – 2 April