Operation Oleander vs Under the persimmon tree: Which Should You Read?
Both live on shelves: Afghan War, Afghanistan, War, History, Children's fiction, Fiction
Operation Oleander
Seventh-grader Jess and her friends establish the Order of the Oleander to collect supplies for an orphanage in Kabul, Afghanistan, where two of their parents are deployed, but when disaster strikes and many blame the…
vs
Under the persimmon tree
During the 2001 Afghan War, the lives of Najmal, a young refugee from Kunduz, Afghanistan, and Nusrat, an American-Muslim teacher who is awaiting her huband's return from Mazar-i-Sharif, intersect at a school in…
The verdict
- Ratings are close across the board — any is a safe pick by score.
- Under the persimmon tree has the widest readership — 1456 ratings behind its score.
- Under the persimmon tree runs the darker storyline; Operation Oleander stays the lighter read.
How to choose
Scores by source
| Operation Oleander | Under the persimmon tree | |
|---|---|---|
| Goodreads | 3.7 (166) | 3.6 (1456) |
Reception
| Operation Oleander | Under the persimmon tree | |
|---|---|---|
| Ratings | 166 | 1456 |
| Editions | 5 | 4 |
| Want to read | 245 | 1136 |
| Reading it now | 6 | 69 |
| Written reviews | 45 | 202 |
| Pages | 192 | 296 |