No, it’s not a suspense-driven thriller by David Baldacci or even a Dan Brown blockbuster! These kudos have been earned by a slender, 368-page, volume known as Three Cups of Tea.

This combination travelogue/biography details Greg Mortenson’s dedicated mission to bring a meaningful education to children in the far-flung villages of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

‘Dr. Greg’, actually an emergency room nurse, grew up in Tanganyika or Tanzania where his father established a medical center and his mother a school. By the age of 11, the Minnesota-born youngster, could not only speak the native Swahili fluently but had also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak.

These early mountaineering skills coupled with his medical training, served the climber well during a dramatic rescue on K2, the second highest peak on earth at 28,251 feet. When an expedition proved deadly to five of 12 climbers, Mortenson lost his bearings on the way down and stumbled, nearly frozen, into the village of Korphe, a cluster of houses perched on the rocky slopes.

Showing genuine concern for this disoriented foreigner, the Balti people opened their homes and hearts to the first outsider some of them had ever seen. The question, how to repay the villagers, led the American to treat minor ailments with antibiotic ointment and painkillers. Still plagued by the desire to help even more, Mortenson vowed to furnish the 78 children, kneeling on the frosty ground writing in the dirt with sticks, a proper school in which to learn.

At first, fund raising was spotty until the determined Mortenson met Jean Hoerni, a scientist and fellow mountain climber. With Hoerni’s $12,000 check in hand, this novice contractor rushed back to Pakistan to purchase plans, cement and other supplies needed to provide a safe, warm environment for village children.

The naivete′ of Mortenson became apparent when the building materials rested on one side of a ravine with no means of reaching Korphe except a 350-foot cable. Village Chief Haji Ali reassured the disappointed American saying, “The people of Korphe have been here without a school for 600 years. What is one winter more?”

With an additional check, $10,000 this time, and the willingness of the natives to walk all day in the rain carrying the 800 lb. cables to the building site, the bridge was erected in 10 weeks. When construction of the school finally got underway, contractor Mortenson was relentless, pushing the native workers day after day.

Demanding respect for the Baltistan ways, Haji Ali locked up Mortenson’s account book, level and plumb line ordering, “Sit down. And shut your mouth. You’re making everyone crazy.”

Pushing aside the American’s relentless pacing, demanding efficiency and whip cracking, the villagers completed their school with help from Sher Takhi, the religious leader. Amazingly, the mullah, who had suffered from polio as a child, led a column of laborers carrying roof beams over a distance of 18 miles limping all the way.

Not certain that the kind-hearted Mortenson had fully comprehended Pakistani customs Haji Ali lectured:

“The first time you share tea with a Balti, you are a stranger. The second time you take tea, you are an honored guest. The third time you share a cup of tea you become family, and for our family, we are prepared to do anything even die . . . . . Doctor Greg, you must make time to share three cups of tea. We may be uneducated. But we are not stupid. We have lived and survived here for a long time.”

Does Mortenson listen – yes. Does he learn – apparently not. Searching for the second school site, Mortenson wandered into Waziristan where he was kidnapped and held captive for eight days with only an issue of Time magazine for comfort.

Another time, the Westerner survived a battle between Afghan warlords by hiding under animal skins in the back of a truck. Besides that his ever-patient wife and two children see him only six months out of the year. But the well-meaning American does produce some dramatic results. Since 1996, Mortenson has built about 80 schools for children in poor and sometimes violent areas of Central Asian countries.

The man is admirable and his mission is outstanding, but his judgment was flawed when choosing David Oliver Relin, an investigative reporter and editor, to co-author Three Cups of Tea. It’s doubtful that Mortenson himself contributed any of the overblown prose found in the best-selling novel. He was just too darn busy!!

One review found fault with the “jumbling together of live-action narrative with flashbacks, ill-timed memoirs and facts about climbing history.”  He felt that the first-person narratives were the most jarring as they were obviously not written by Mortenson.

Another critique pointed out that the novel was non-fiction written in a fictional manner. The comment that, “non-fiction authors don’t write with soaring detail and clear narrative surrounding a single person because it’s impossible to do so and still call yourself a non-fiction writer,” rang true with this bookclubber’s experience with the story. (A church friend has been ‘reading’ the volume I loaned her for more than six months and hopes to finish sometime soon.)

For those who had difficulty with the adult version, try Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Journey to Change the World… One Child at a Time ( The Young Reader’s Edition) adapted by Sarah Thomson for ages nine and older. And for that special child in your life, aged 4-8, don’t overlook the outstanding picture book, Listen to the Wind, illustrated by former St. Louisan, Susan Roth. When presented as an introduction to our Pennies for Peace campaign, the Faith Quest kids were speechless.

Discussion questions for your book club can be found at:

http://www.us.penguingroup.com/static/rguides/us/three_cups_of_tea.html