For a book that's only 208 pages long, there's a ridiculous amount going on in Age of Iron.

Not to mention it's kind of a bummer. It's not easy to get students wanting to read about a woman dying of cancer. But it's easy to show them that there's so much more here. Mrs. Curren's story takes place in Apartheid-era South Africa, and that's a very good place to start. It's important that students understand the historical backdrop, otherwise all the fighting and chaos is without context.