Parents' Guide to

The Kite Runner

By Barbara Schultz, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 16+

Brilliant, violent Afghanistan novel will enlighten teens.

The Kite Runner Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

Community Reviews

age 16+

Based on 13 parent reviews

age 14+

Every high school should read this.

I loved how The Kite Runner showed the realities of living in Afghanistan, and how hard it was for the citizens to be exposed to that kind of violence. It has so much educational value and teaches kids what it's like to live the way they did, and the value of speaking up.

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
age 14+

Not for the overly sensitive, but it’s a must read.

My twin sons read this novel in English 9 honors. It has one bad word in it, “sweet, sugary, cun#” about a woman to her son. The woman had died so it was disrespect to her young son. That same child is raped by a boy four years older who was a sociopath and later became a child molester. The one yelling the story is the boy who was raped, his best friend. One was rich and one was poor. The rich one had a chance to stop the rape when he ran into it happening in an alley. He was afraid of being beaten up. There’s lots of layers to this book. But it’s all about guilt and how it can motivate people to right their wrongs. My boys helped each other understand it. I told them to imagine if they were the two boys what would they do. They are gifted though, so they tend to be understanding. More than me sometimes. lol

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (13):
Kids say (48):

This riveting book will certainly encourage teens to look at their world and "goodness" in new ways. Khaled Hosseini's debut created controversy among Afghan readers; the novel portrays Pashtuns as prejudiced toward Hazara people and treating them with degradation. The racial and religious extremism in the novel's certainly upsetting; the violence is horrifying. But the characters in The Kite Runner are beautifully realized, and their story's unforgettable.

Book Details

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