Wanting Mor
By Rukhsana Khan
Groundwood Books, 2009

Book Review by Pooja Makhijani
From Kahani Fall 2009



Rukhsana Khan’s moving, new young adult novel, Wanting Mor, is about Jameela, a girl in post-Taliban, America-occupied Afghanistan. Even in her war-torn country, Jameela feels secure, sustained by the love of her mother, Mor. When Mor dies, Jameela is abandoned by her father and evil stepmother and faces the hardships of being forced to live in an orphanage. Finally, it is her mother’s love and her love of learning that liberates her. In the author’s note, Ms. Khan writes that this book was inspired by a true incident and reminds readers that “when countries go to war, it is always civilians, especially children, who suffer the most.”