Fadi blinked, his eyes watery. For all the problems in Afghanistan, this was still home. Would this be the time he ever saw it?
-- Fadi (chapter 1 paragraph 101)

Importance: This quotation sums up Fadi’s feelings as the family make the dangerous journey from Kabul to Jalalabad. Although the Taliban have made life in Afghanistan very hard for ordinary people there, Fadi still loves his country and thinks of it as his home. This is the same attitude that motivated his father to bring the family back to Afghanistan when they left the United States.

Father and son looked at each other in horror as the truck raced up the alley, leaving stragglers behind. Mariam was swallowed up in the dispersing crowd, a tiny little girl in a sea of strangers.
-- Narration (chapter 2 paragraph 56)

Importance: This is the moment when Mariam is left behind and the family is separated from her. This is the most significant moment in the...