The Kite Runner

Reading Journal Entry 1

●​ Date: June 5, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapters 1 & 2

1. Setting A wealthy, peaceful neighborhood in Kabul, Afghanistan, during the 1970s. It

briefly flashes forward to San Francisco in 2001.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Amir: The main character and narrator. He is a rich kid who loves to read and
desperately wants his dad to be proud of him.
●​ Hassan: Amir's servant and best friend. He is illiterate, belongs to the Hazara
minority group, and is incredibly loyal.
●​ Baba: Amir’s wealthy, powerful, and emotionally distant father.
●​ Ali: Hassan’s kind father, who walks with a limp from polio and works for Baba.
●​ Rahim Khan: Baba’s close business partner who actually supports Amir's love
for writing.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels guilty because his mother died giving birth to him,
and he worries his dad blames him for it. Also, Amir feels jealous that Hassan is
naturally brave, while he feels like a coward deep down.
●​ External Conflict: The strict social classes in Afghanistan treat Pashtuns (like
Amir) as superior and Hazaras (like Hassan) as second-class citizens. There is
also a cold relationship between Amir and Baba, since Amir isn't athletic
enough for his father's liking.

Reading Journal Entry 2

●​ Date: June 6, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 3

1. Setting Baba's big house in Kabul and the construction site of an orphanage that
Baba is building with his own money.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels completely worthless after overhearing his dad tell
Rahim Khan that a boy who can't stand up for himself won't stand up for
anything as an adult. He struggles to find any common ground with his dad,
who only cares about sports.
●​ External Conflict: Baba gets into arguments with religious teachers because he
refuses to follow their strict, traditional rules. Meanwhile, Amir fails to do well at
a local soccer match, which disappoints his dad and leaves Amir sitting alone in
the stands.

Reading Journal Entry 3

●​ Date: June 7, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 4

1. Setting 1970s Kabul, mostly around the neighborhood, the movie theater, and a
favorite pomegranate tree where the boys hang out.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels guilty for teasing Hassan by giving him fake
definitions of words just to feel smarter than him. Amir also wants his dad to
read his first short story but feels hurt when his dad completely ignores it.
●​ External Conflict: The unfair school system allows Amir to get a great education
while Hassan isn't allowed to go to school at all. Because Baba refuses to show
interest in Amir's creative writing, Rahim Khan has to be the one to read the
story instead.

Reading Journal Entry 4

●​ Date: June 8, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 5

1. Setting A cold winter night in Kabul in 1973, where the peaceful neighborhood
suddenly becomes loud and scary due to a military coup.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Assef: A cruel neighborhood bully who loves violence and carries brass
knuckles.
●​ Wali: One of Assef's loyal followers.
 ●​ Kamal: Another boy who helps Assef bully people.
●​ Dr. Kumar: A kind doctor who fixes Hassan's cleft lip for his birthday.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir panics when he hears gunfire outside and realizes he
only feels safe because his dad is in the room. He also feels a surge of jealousy
when Baba hugs and protects Hassan during a scary moment instead of him.
●​ External Conflict: A sudden political takeover gets rid of the king and changes
Afghanistan's government overnight. Later, Assef and his friends corner Amir
and Hassan on the street and threaten to beat them up.

Reading Journal Entry 5

●​ Date: June 9, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 6

1. Setting Kabul during a freezing winter, focusing on the big neighborhood kite-flying
tournament.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels like he has to win the kite tournament, believing it is
the only way to make his dad love him. He relies heavily on Hassan's amazing
talent for tracking down cut kites, even though he wants to be the hero himself.
●​ External Conflict: The intense competition between all the local kids who are
trying to cut down each other's kites in the sky. There is also an awkward, quiet
distance between Amir and Baba that Amir hopes to fix by winning the trophy.

Reading Journal Entry 6

●​ Date: June 10, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 7

1. Setting The crowded streets of Kabul right after the tournament, ending in a dark,
empty alleyway.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict
 ●​ Internal Conflict: Amir is too afraid to help Hassan, choosing to hide and watch
rather than step in and save his friend. Amir feels horrible about letting Hassan
get hurt, but he decides that keeping the blue kite to win his dad's love is more
important.
●​ External Conflict: Assef and his friends corner Hassan in an alley and brutally
assault him. Hassan refuses to give up the blue kite because he promised Amir
he would bring it back, while Assef demands it by force.

Reading Journal Entry 7

●​ Date: June 11, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 8

1. Setting Amir's house during a tense spring, and a family road trip to a relative's
house in Jalalabad.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Kaka Homayoun: Baba's welcoming cousin who hosts the family.

●​ Aunt Tanoo: Homayoun's wife.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir can't sleep and feels sick with guilt, but he is too afraid to
tell anyone what he did. He feels so uncomfortable around Hassan that he just
wants him gone so he can stop remembering his own cowardice.
●​ External Conflict: Amir snaps at Hassan in an orchard and throws
pomegranates at him, trying to get Hassan to hit him back, but Hassan refuses.
Amir also asks his dad if they can fire Ali and Hassan, causing Baba to fly into a
huge rage.

Reading Journal Entry 8

●​ Date: June 12, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 9

1. Setting Amir's house during his big 13th birthday party, moving to a sad, rainy
morning after the celebration.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict
 ●​ Internal Conflict: Amir hides his new watch and money under Hassan's
mattress on purpose to make it look like Hassan is a thief. He feels awful when
Hassan takes the blame for the theft anyway, realizing Hassan is still trying to
protect him.
●​ External Conflict: Baba cries and begs Ali and Hassan to stay, but Ali insists that
they have to pack up and leave the house for good. Amir's lie successfully
breaks up the lifelong friendship between Baba and Ali.

Reading Journal Entry 9

●​ Date: June 13, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 10

1. Setting A dark night in 1981, inside a cramped, smelly fuel truck escaping from
Soviet-occupied Kabul.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Karim: A sneaky smuggler who takes money to help people escape the country.
●​ Kamal’s Father: A broken man trying to save his son, who has become
completely silent from past trauma.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir panics and gets terribly motion-sick inside the dark tank,
trying to survive the journey. He also feels weak and ashamed watching his old
father stand up to dangerous men while he can only watch.
●​ External Conflict: Baba gets into a life-or-death argument with a Russian soldier
who tries to assault a married woman at a checkpoint. Later, Kamal suffocates
to death from the fumes in the fuel tank, causing his father to shoot himself out
of pure grief.

Reading Journal Entry 10

●​ Date: June 14, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 11

1. Setting A cheap, plain apartment building and neighborhood in Fremont, California,

during the 1980s.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Mrs. Nguyen: A nice local grocery store clerk who gets confused by Baba's
cultural habits.
3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Baba is depressed about losing his money and high status
from back home, but his pride stops him from accepting food stamps. Amir, on
the other hand, loves being in America because it feels like a fresh start where
no one knows about his past.
●​ External Conflict: Baba loses his temper and breaks items in a local store
because he doesn't understand why the owners need to see his ID for a check.
Baba has a hard time adjusting to life in America, working long, exhausting
hours at a gas station for very little money.

Reading Journal Entry 11

●​ Date: June 15, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 12

1. Setting The hot, crowded San Jose Flea Market where Afghan families meet up on
weekends to sell junk and share gossip.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ General Taheri: A very proud, traditional former military man who cares deeply
about appearances.
●​ Khala Jamila: The General’s friendly, welcoming wife.
●​ Soraya Taheri: The General’s smart, serious daughter whom Amir falls in love
with.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir is incredibly nervous to talk to Soraya but decides to

break traditional rules by approaching her anyway. Soraya worries about her
past mistakes, but she wants to be honest and build a real connection with
Amir.
●​ External Conflict: General Taheri keeps a very close eye on his daughter and
doesn't want Amir talking to her without permission. The local Afghan
community loves to gossip and judges young women harshly for things that
men get away with.

Reading Journal Entry 12

●​ Date: June 16, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 13
1. Setting A busy Afghan wedding hall in California, and later, a quiet apartment where
Baba's health gets worse.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels heartbroken that his dad is dying of cancer, but he
is also happy to be marrying Soraya. Soraya feels sad about Baba's sickness but
works hard to be a loving, helpful daughter-in-law.
●​ External Conflict: Baba fights a losing battle against advanced lung cancer and
refuses medical treatment to keep his dignity. Amir and Soraya try for years to
have a baby but face a frustrating, silent struggle with infertility.

Reading Journal Entry 13

●​ Date: June 17, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 14

1. Setting San Francisco in 2001, moving from a nice walk by a lake to Amir and
Soraya's comfortable house.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters; this chapter brings the story back
to the present day.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir instantly feels his old childhood guilt return when Rahim
Khan calls him out of nowhere. Amir struggles to decide if he should leave his
safe life in America to face his past mistakes in a dangerous country.
●​ External Conflict: A dying Rahim Khan calls from Pakistan and tells Amir he
needs to come visit him immediately. Tension builds between Amir and Soraya
because he has to leave for a dangerous area without telling her the whole
story.

Reading Journal Entry 14

●​ Date: June 18, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 15

1. Setting A small, old apartment in Peshawar, Pakistan, where Rahim Khan has been
living since fleeing Afghanistan.
2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters; the focus is just on Amir and
Rahim Khan meeting again.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir is deeply shocked and saddened to see how thin and
close to death Rahim Khan looks. Amir feels his anxiety rise as he realizes he
can no longer run away from his past.
●​ External Conflict: Rahim Khan's severe coughing fits and sickness constantly
interrupt their emotional conversation. The general danger and political unrest
of the region make the reunion feel tense and rushed.

Reading Journal Entry 15

●​ Date: June 19, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 16

1. Setting Rahim Khan’s story about the past in Kabul, specifically Baba's old house
during the early years of Taliban rule.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Farzana: Hassan’s kind, quiet, and protective wife.

●​ Sohrab: Hassan’s young son who is amazing with a slingshot.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Hassan worries about moving back into Baba's empty house
because it is very dangerous for Hazaras under the Taliban. Hassan remains
completely loyal to Baba and Amir, even after everything that happened when
they were kids.
●​ External Conflict: The Taliban regime takes over the city and makes life violent
and miserable for regular citizens. Farzana is physically assaulted by a Taliban
officer on the street just for speaking too loudly in public.

Reading Journal Entry 16

●​ Date: June 20, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 17

1. Setting Back in Rahim Khan’s hot apartment room in Pakistan, where Amir reads a
heartbreaking letter from Hassan.
2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters, but family secrets change
everything.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels incredibly angry and betrayed when he learns that
his dad lied to him his entire life. Amir feels a crushing weight of guilt when he
realizes that Hassan was actually his biological half-brother.
●​ External Conflict: The Taliban execute Hassan and his wife in the street over a
dispute about who owns Baba’s house. Amir argues with Rahim Khan because
he is too terrified to go into Afghanistan to rescue Hassan's orphan son, Sohrab.

Reading Journal Entry 17

●​ Date: June 21, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 18

1. Setting A quiet, small tea shop in Pakistan where Amir sits alone to think about his
family's secrets.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir struggles to understand how his dad could preach about
honesty while keeping such a massive secret. Amir realizes he has to go to
Kabul because it is the only way to make things right for both himself and his
dad.
●​ External Conflict: The damage caused by Baba's old lies keeps two brothers
apart because of their different social classes. Amir must now prepare to face
the terrifying, dangerous journey into Taliban territory alone.

Reading Journal Entry 18

●​ Date: June 22, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 19

1. Setting The rough, mountainous border between Pakistan and Afghanistan, ending
at a poor mud house in Jalalabad.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Farid: Amir’s tough, grumpy driver who survived the wars in Afghanistan.
●​ Wahid: Farid’s kind, incredibly poor brother who welcomes Amir into his home.
3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels like an outsider in his own country because of his
expensive clothes and American money. Amir feels deeply ashamed when he
realizes Wahid’s kids are staring at his plate because they are starving.
●​ External Conflict: Farid openly dislikes Amir at first, viewing him as a rich coward
who ran away to America when things got tough. The extreme poverty of
war-torn Afghanistan means a family doesn't even have enough bread to feed
their own children.

Reading Journal Entry 19

●​ Date: June 23, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 20

1. Setting The ruined, destroyed streets of Kabul, moving between ruined

neighborhoods and a broken orphanage.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Zaman: The desperate director of the orphanage who is running out of ways to
keep the kids alive.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels heartbroken looking at the rubble of the beautiful
city he remembers from his childhood. Zaman feels disgusted with himself
because he has to sell children to the Taliban just to buy food for the other
orphans.
●​ External Conflict: Farid loses his temper and attacks Zaman when he finds out
Zaman has been letting a Taliban official take kids. Armed Taliban patrols drive
through the streets, ready to arrest or kill civilians for breaking their strict rules.

Reading Journal Entry 20

●​ Date: June 24, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 21

1. Setting A dusty, packed sports stadium in Kabul during a soccer match surrounded
by armed Taliban guards.

2. Characters Introduced (No new major characters; the focus is on the terrifying
Taliban leaders.)
3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels pure terror sitting in the stadium, trying his best not
to make eye contact with anyone dangerous. The crowd of regular citizens sits
in terrified silence, forced to watch horrific violence without showing any
emotion.
●​ External Conflict: A Taliban official brutally stones a young man and woman to
death on the field during halftime. Amir has to schedule a dangerous, private
meeting with this high-ranking Taliban leader to try and buy Sohrab back.

Reading Journal Entry 21

●​ Date: June 25, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 22

1. Setting A large, guarded house in Kabul, inside a locked room where a brutal fight
takes place.

2. Characters Introduced (An old enemy from Amir's childhood returns as a dangerous
adult.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir realizes he cannot run away this time and must finally
stand up to Assef. Amir feels a strange sense of relief and starts laughing while
getting beaten up, feeling like he is finally paying for his past sins.
●​ External Conflict: A brutal, bloody fight breaks out between Amir and Assef,
who is now a powerful Taliban leader. Young Sohrab has to make a terrifying
choice, using his slingshot to shoot Assef in the eye to save Amir's life.

Reading Journal Entry 22

●​ Date: June 26, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 23

1. Setting A busy, sterile hospital room in Peshawar, Pakistan, where Amir is recovering
from his severe injuries.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Aisha: A kind nurse who helps take care of Amir while he heals.

3. Conflict
 ●​ Internal Conflict: Amir struggles through terrible physical pain while worrying
constantly about how to keep Sohrab safe. Sohrab is deeply traumatized and is
too scared to trust Amir after everything he has been through.
●​ External Conflict: Amir learns that Rahim Khan has quietly vanished from his
apartment, leaving behind only a farewell letter. Amir also finds out the
orphanage he planned to send Sohrab to doesn't exist, leaving them with no
safe legal options.

Reading Journal Entry 23

●​ Date: June 27, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 24

1. Setting A plain hotel room in Islamabad, Pakistan, and the cold, intimidating offices
of the American Embassy.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Raymond Andrews: A cold, tired embassy official who handles adoption

paperwork.
●​ Omar Faisal: A kind and helpful lawyer who tries to help Amir with immigration
laws.

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels desperate as strict international laws make

adopting Sohrab seem completely impossible. Sohrab is absolutely terrified of
being sent back to an orphanage and begins to lose all hope.
●​ External Conflict: Amir gets into a frustrating argument with the embassy
official over the harsh legal requirements for adoption. A horrible emergency
happens when Sohrab tries to end his life after misunderstanding Amir’s legal
plans.

Reading Journal Entry 24

●​ Date: June 28, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 25 (Part 1)

1. Setting A busy hospital intensive care unit in Pakistan, shifting to an airplane flying
to San Francisco.

2. Characters Introduced

●​ Dr. Faruqi: A gentle doctor who saves Sohrab's life at the hospital.
3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir feels a deep sense of guilt and prays sincerely for the first
time in years, begging God to keep the boy alive. Sohrab feels completely
numb and is angry at Amir for saving his life when he just wanted to die.
●​ External Conflict: Sohrab stops talking completely, refusing to say a single word
to Amir or Soraya. Tension builds in the family because Soraya's father questions
the idea of bringing a Hazara boy into their home.

Reading Journal Entry 25

●​ Date: June 29, 2026

●​ Pages Read: Chapter 25 (Part 2)

1. Setting A rainy spring day at a park in San Francisco, where local Afghan families are
gathering for a party.

2. Characters Introduced (No new characters; the story focuses on bringing closure to
the main family.)

3. Conflict

●​ Internal Conflict: Amir works hard to be patient with Sohrab's total silence,
hoping for any small sign of emotion. Amir feels a deep sense of peace and
healing when he steps up to fly a kite for Hassan's son.
●​ External Conflict: The entire family faces a quiet, daily struggle to comfort a
deeply traumatized child who will not respond to them. A friendly kite battle in
the park finally gets Sohrab to smile a tiny bit, showing the first real hint of hope
for the future.