I am Nujood, Age 10 and Divorced by Nujood Ali

This week I read more into the Reader-Response Theory, I am teaching a unit on it this week so I figured I would model in my blog a "Dialogue with the Text" response.  

Feelings/Emotions

  Some of my first reactions to this text were that of horror, disbelieving, anger, and sadness.  I felt that Nujood has really lost a sense of her innocence because of what her father did to her, by sending her off to be married.  I also could not believe that the family of Nujood's ex husband supported the abuse and rape against Nujood.  This book at times was hard to read because as an American, I was in shock that this was allowed in Yemen culture.  At the end of the book it states that over half of Yemen women are married under the age of 18.  Ugh, makes me kind of sick!

Perceptions

I wasn't sure if this book would have a positive ending.  I wasn't sure if Nujood's life would ever be normal for her.  I was scared that she would never recover emotionally or get her life back on track.  I am not sure if I could recover if this happened to me.

Associations

I really do not have any memories of my life that I can relate to Nujood.  I remember some disappointments that I had in my life where I knew I was not a child anymore or I learned not to be so weak.  But I am grateful that I haven't had to experience the pain that Nujood has.

Thoughts

Some of the thoughts suggested by this text are that of cultural issues, including gender.  In America, marriage is something only adults can do.  It is taboo to be married when you are a teenager and its illegal in many parts of the nation.  With that being said...is it ok that I am judging a Muslim culture that I have no familiarity with?  Nujood's family was poor, and this was a way that people made money, does that make it right?  Many questions and culturally ideas are brought up because of this memoir.  

Judgments of Importance

Scared I think is the most important word in the book.  Nujood's life before and after her marriage is a life of unknowns.  Her family is poor and barely gets by.  When she was married she was attacked and raped every night.  Afterward she became a mini celebrity and she doesn't know how her family and friends will treat her.  Nujood for only being 10 has a lot of stress and problems but somehow she is able to overcome being scared.

Author

The author of this text is the narrator.  I would love to meet Nujood today and see how she is progressing in life!  I hope she is enjoying school and life as a child.

There are several other questions that students can be asked.  Students can really connect with the text and discover within themselves why this text is important.  Reader-Response is suppose to be about self discovery and asking this types of questions really do help with this process.  These simple questions--I was really able to focus my attention on what I have been reading and these questions do a good job with that.