mrs. whitten did the same thing with other children or not. affected. do know in my life, she was one of the decisive figures. i am certain that but for her i would have led a very different and probably much less meaningful life. >> what a pleasure? >> thank you. thank you. >> khaled hosseini author of the best selling novel "the kite runner" talks about his hopes for his homeland. >> no change will come to afghanistan unless it's initiated by the afghan's themselves... >> and the inspiration for his latest novel. >> the idea for the book came from painful acts of sacrifice. >> every saturday join us for exclusive, revealing, and surprising talks with the most interesting people of our time. >> talk to al jazeera only on al jazeera america [♪ music ] >> maybe you've already been feeling that way, but now you've got data. a report that liberals and conservatives are moving further apart it's the inside story.

mrs. whitten asked me to come in and talk to her at the class. my first re, was what did i do wrong? sat down at her desk and she said to me, what do you read? i said what do you mean? she said, what due read? newspapers, magazines. i admitted to her i read only books as necessary to get through school. i was too embarrassed to tell her that i did at of reading what have we now call comic books. she said, i think you are ready for something else. she picked a book up off of her deck and handed it to me, the novel last ti novel ella called "the moon is down" and said i would like you to read this. you don't have to do it. this will not affect your grade one way or the other but i think you will own joy it and i think you should start reading more. i went home that night. i so much wanted to impress her and i loved the story. i gave her an oral book report probably longer than the book, itself. she said, that's good. this went on for about nine months. i read dozens of books. she introduced me to the world of books and then i remember as though this were yesterday, although this was ma