Aisha Saeed in her book Amal Unbound tells the fascinating story of a twelve-year-old girl who becomes a servant for the evil Jawad Sahid, the son of the Khan family.
After Amal’s mother had a fifth girl, she became depressed and wouldn’t get out of bed. Amal had to leave school to take care of the house and her younger sisters. One day when she needed a few minutes to herself, Amal went to the market. She was feeling glum about leaving school, so she bought a pomegranate as a special treat just for herself. When leaving the market, a car hit Amal. A man got out of the car and started yelling at her. He then wanted to take her pomegranate as a treat for his mother. Amal refused to give it to him and ran home.
The man turned out to be Jawad Sahid, the son of the Khan family. He came to Amal’s home and told her father he must pay what he owed his family, or Amal would be taken to his estate to work as a servant until his debts were paid off. Since Amal’s father didn’t have the money, she had to go work for Jawad. At the Khan estate, Amal was assigned the job of maidservant for Jawad’s mother, Nasreen Baji. Thankfully, she was much kinder than her son.
FREE Teaching Ideas for Amal Unbound
Activity #1 Pakistani Flag Pencil Pouch
Creative Khadija shows how to create several crafts from Pakistan:
Activity #2 Coloring Page from Crayola
This coloring page has the look of the book cover. Click here to go to the Crayola website to download the page.
Activity #3 Games
In her blog post Connecting with Cultures through Traditional Games, Julie Yeros describes how to play five traditional Pakistani games.
Activity #4
Activity #5
If you would like to try out the Amal Unbound Book Unit before you buy it, this download contains free samples including:
- Vocabulary Practice for Chapters 1-3
- Comprehension Questions for Chapters 1-3
- Constructed Response Question for Chapters 1-3
- Photos to Show What the Rest of the Unit Looks Like
Amal Unbound Book Unit contains graphic organizers for an interactive notebook. Vocabulary, comprehension, constructed response writing, and skill practice are all included. Printable and digital versions are available.
