Shooting Kabul

Chapters 1-3

Reading Check

1. A Barbie doll (Chapter 1)

2. So Zafoona can receive better medical care (Chapter 1)

3. Books (Chapter 2)

4. A group of non-Pukhtun, Farsi-speaking tribes (note: “Pukhtun” is an alternative way of saying “Pashtun”) (Chapter 3)

Short Answer

1. Habib and Zafoona are Fadi’s father and mother. Noor is Fadi’s older sister, and Mariam is his younger sister. (Chapter 1)

2. Habib and Zafoona lived in the U.S. with their family; however, they returned to Afghanistan to help the people, particularly in supporting farmers as they transitioned from growing poppy for opium to growing agriculture for food. (Chapter 1)

3. They offer Habib a position as the ambassador of the Taliban regime to the United Nations since he studied in the U.S. previously and understands Western culture. The Taliban regime is struggling to receive international recognition as a legitimate government. (Chapter 3)

Chapters 4-7

Reading Check

1. Uncle Amin (Chapter 4)

2. The girls’ schools were closed under the Taliban regime (Chapter 5)

3. It has the largest number of Afghans in the U.S. (Chapter 5)

4. Brookhaven (Chapter 7)

5. A card that he can buy his school lunches with (Chapter 7)

Short Answer

1. Uncle Amin notes that Afghanistan has been invaded historically by the Persians, Greeks, Arabs, Turks, Mongols, British, and then the Soviets. He attributes the desire for war in Afghanistan to the amount and frequency of invasions over time. (Chapter 4)

2. Habib and Uncle Amin regularly keep in touch with friends and family in both Afghanistan and Pakistan to learn about Mariam’s whereabouts. Habib also calls the U.S. consulate in Peshawar for updates. There is the possibility she has not told anyone her real name. (Chapter 6)

3. Noor starts working at McDonald’s. Fadi is surprised to see her offering her father money from her paycheck to support the family. (Chapter 6)

4. Both Zafoona and Noor express separately that they believe it is their own fault that Mariam is gone. Fadi overhears both comments, but neither deter him from believing that it is still his own fault that Mariam was lost and that he “doesn’t deserve to belong to this family.” (Chapters 5-6)

Chapters 8-11

Reading Check

1. Walking around with his camera (Chapter 8)

2. To fly back to Pakistan (Chapter 8)

3. High-fiving and laughing with a male employee outside McDonald’s (Chapter 9)

4. That he sent $500 to Professor Sahib (Chapter 11)

Short Answer

1. Fadi overhears them talking about a family who believes they saw Mariam on the night that she did not get on the truck. This family says they saw Mariam with another family. Zafoona is desperate to return to Pakistan to try to find her daughter, and she questions Habib’s ghayrat, or the “ability to uphold his family’s honor.” Habib agrees that he has failed his family and that the situation was his fault. (Chapter 8)

2. A girl named Anh befriends Fadi and a less-popular classmate named Jon. Together they work in a group and decide that the theme of their project will be the sea. He is especially excited by the prospect of joining the photography club. (Chapter 9)

3. The winner of the contest has the opportunity to go to several locations around the world with the Société Géographique team to take photographs. One of the possible destinations is India, which means Fadi could travel from India to Pakistan and look for Mariam. (Chapter 10)

4. Fadi attempts to leave the U.S. from San Francisco Airport and stowaway on a succession of flights back to Peshawar in order to find Mariam. Fadi sneaks into his father’s taxi during his shift to the airport, but he is caught. (Chapter 10)

Chapters 12-16

Reading Check

1. $50 to join his school’s photography club (Chapter 12)

2. Anh will do the research on photo subjects and Fadi will help with the photo shoot (Chapter 14).

3. “Simplicity, composition, and lighting” (Chapter 14)

4. If you kill a person, you are not a human yourself (Chapter 15)

5. Two men violently attack him (Chapter 15)

6. fear and anger (Chapter 15)

Short Answer

1. The day that the photography club is supposed to start is September 11, 2001 (9/11). Fadi hears news throughout the day hijacked planes hit the World Trade Center in New York City. (Chapter 12)

2. Fadi overhears the news that Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were associated with the terrorists involved in the attacks on 9/11. The Afghans in the shop are worried about what this means for their country of origin since the Taliban has offered bin Laden protection in Afghanistan. (Chapter 13)

3. Before 9/11, Fadi was ignored but also teased by some of his peers. After 9/11, Fadi begins to experience targeted bullying from some of his peers who mock him and call him a terrorist. (Chapter 14)

4. When he sees the dolls, he immediately thinks of Mariam. Becoming detached from his own actions, he screams and begins to rip the dolls from their boxes and hitting them together. Fadi feels the emotion of guilt when he sees the dolls. (Chapter 15)

5. Fadi wants to impress the judges in order to win the competition. He takes a photo of Fillmore Street because it has elements of each of the judges’ personal interests: architecture, restaurants, and cultural diversity. (Chapter 16)

Chapters 17-21

Reading Check

1. It is destroyed in the fight between him and Ike/Felix. (Chapter 17)

2. Khyber Pass restaurant (Chapter 18)

3. They receive a three-day suspension. (Chapter 19)

Short Answer

1. Fadi chooses to do a portrait shot of Uncle Amin’s parents, Dada and Abay. Deciding that he wants to focus on people as the subject, he chooses this specific couple since “their faces were maps of their lives.” (Chapter 20)

2. Fadi is worried that the other Afghan kids would not accept him because he is Pukhtun and they are Tajik or Uzbek. Instead, they invite Fadi over, commend him for defending himself against Ike and Felix, and suggest they all band together in order to protect themselves against the bullies. (Chapter 20)

3. The family that took Mariam was found in Peshawar; however, Mariam left them after crossing the border into Pakistan. (Chapter 21)

Chapters 22-Epilogue

Reading Check

1. Anh has won second place and Fadi has won Honourable Mention. (Chapter 22)

2. To have a fundraiser at the school to raise money for his ticket to Peshawar (Chapter 24)

3. To announce to his family that it was his fault that they lost Mariam (Chapter 24)

4. Claudia, the protagonist from his favorite book, From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (Chapter 25)

Short Answer

1. Fadi, Jon, Ravi, along with other kids who are bullied, corner Felix and Ike after school. The group are about to beat the two bullies up, when Fadi calls everyone to peace. Instead, the group of boys throw the bullies in the lake. (Chapter 23)

2. Ms. Bethune is very sad to hear Fadi’s story about Mariam. Fadi is prepared for her to blame him for Mariam’s disappearance, but instead his teacher urges him not to think this way since the situation was entirely out of his control. (Chapter 24)

3. Fadi meets Clive Murray, one of the judges of the competition. As Clive shows Fadi his photos from his recent travels, they come across a photograph of a young girl holding a Barbie doll in a refugee camp. Fadi recognizes her as Mariam. (Chapter 25)