The Breadwinner

This book had several of my students going out to buy the book so they could read ahead. Some of my students who never read chapter books were asking their parents to take them to get the entire trilogy! Great series!!!

This is a great book for kids to read! It sheds light on the oppression suffered by many in other countries. But at the same time, it's inspirational and entertaining. Also an easy read for kids. I HIGHLY recomment it!! (For all ages)

My daughter had to read this for school. She is a sensitive kid and found it very unpleasant to read and disturbing. I am sure the school system wanted the kids to see how life is like for others around the globe. I honestly don't know how effective reading this book was to their goal.

*Spoiler alert*

I am writing this as we read a lot of literature and non-fiction, and I was caught off-guard with this one. This one was recommended for 10-14 year olds so I thought I was fine. But there was cutting off of hands, animals eating bodies, domestic violence, digging up bones...way too many things for me to be comfortable with for my kids ages 9-12. My 11 year old at one point said, "Turn it off mom!" (We were listening to an audio version.) So this is not a good/bad review as I am aware that these things happen. Just a "be forewarned" review depending on the listeners.

*Spoiler alert*

I am writing this as we read a lot of literature and non-fiction, and I was caught off-guard with this one. This one was recommended for 10-14 year olds so I thought I was fine. But there was cutting off of hands, animals eating bodies, domestic violence, digging up bones...way too many things for me to be comfortable with for my kids ages 9-12. My 11 year old at one point said, "Turn it off mom!" (We were listening to an audio version.) So this is not a good/bad review as I am aware that these things happen. Just a "be forewarned" review depending on the listeners.

I had to buy this book for my son to read in 8th grade. It was well enough written, but the story it told simply wasn't that believable: a girl in Afghanistan disguises herself as a boy and supports her mother and family. It doesn't seem reasonable that this could happen given the strident nature of the Taliban; it really felt as if this was just a politically correct story. Don't get me wrong; I don't like the way society in Afghanistan seems to be organized, but wishing for something to be different doesn't make it so.

Although this story is written in the third person, it is pretty much with the impression of an 11-year-old. Thus, the detailed historical niceties that some reviewers would like with reference to the Taliban and Afghanistan does suffer in the portrayal of events as experienced. After all, what is religion to children but the following of dictates of those who are often simply unquestioningly doing the same thing? I liked the comparative reference of one reviewer who likened the Taliban to the Klu Klux Klan in this country in its heyday--neither of which should be tolerated.

This is, in general, about the agony of women, girls, and even some men who unfairly experienced horrific living during the regime change under the Taliban. In particular, this is a story of a very resourceful 11-year-old girl who had to disguise herself as a boy in a land where girls and women were mistreated by a conquering and abusive religious sect of the Islamic faith. Sections are very graphic about cruel mistreatment of both sexes, poverty, and overwhelming fear for ones physical and emotional safety. Yet, one cannot but rejoice at the friendships that were made by the main female character, Parvana (her fake boy name was Kaseem), under the terrible circumstances of living under a dictatorship of those who had rules one must follow or be beaten, maimed or killed. The story has suspense throughout. The friendship between the two major female characters--both having to pretend being boys to get a job to keep their families alive--is very heart-warming. As one reviewer put it, "this will not be remembered as great literature," but it will pull at one's heartstrings, infuse empathy, and give the reader an appreciation of the commonality of us all.

Personal History: Afghanistan (Grades 4-8 and Up)

The Creative Teacher: Activities for Language Arts (Grades 4 through 8 and Up)

A year and a half after the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan, Parvana’s father is arrested leaving 11-year-old Parvana, her mother, her older and younger sisters, and toddler brother to fend for themselves. Because of Taliban rules, Parvana’s mother and older sister cannot be seen without a burqa and cannot be out of their house without a male escort. Since the family still has to eat, the only solution is to turn Parvana into a boy named Kaseem and send her out to work in the marketplace to support the family.

The Breadwinner is the first book of the Breadwinner series. At times it made me angry because while the story is fiction, it could have happened and could still be happening, all because of horrible people imposing their will on innocent families. The story moves along slowly, but steadily. I recommend it to adults, teens, and older children.

Recommended to me by a colleague for the middle school classroom, "The Breadwinner" proves to be an appropriate book for the classroom. The topics in the book, often presented on the nightly news, can be confusing to younger readers. The author walks to certain lines, but does not go beyond certain age appropriate levels. In this way, an unknowing teacher can be in suspense in the same way as students.

When her father is arrested by the Taliban, Parvana and her family are unable to leave their home because women are unable to be in the street unsupervised. Unable to work or even purchase food, they are placed in a precarious situation. Forced into an unpopular decision, Parvana takes a leadership role in her family. While this is happening, Parvana worries about her father and still has kid problems. Her sister picks on her and she worries about changes in her body that could change things. Yet these worries are in the background as she is forced to take a new role in her family.

The novel ends with an obvious segue into the sequel. However, the major storylines of this story are completed. "The Breadwinner" allows middle school aged children to look at uncomfortable but real-life situations. And in reality, there is nothing better than to make a child think objectively about the world he/she lives in.

Discussing The Breadwinner

The Breadwinner is a book about a young girl, Parvana, who lives with her family in afghanistan. In her family there is the Father, Mother, Nooria, and her little sister Maryam and her little bother Ali. Parvana lives in Afghanistan and moves houses a lot due to bombings. Parvana lived in many houses but all were bombed and they became poor every time there was the bombing. Now, they are living in a single room house. Parvana's dad was arrested for getting an education in a different country. The book the Breadwinner, falls under the genre of realistic fiction. The theme of Breadwinner is bravery, or hope I say this because Parvana acted brave and still had hope. Mainly, it takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan where Parvana lived. When Nooria was going to get married, her family had to leave for Mazar-e-Sharif. When the dad came back they were informed that Mazar-e-Sharif had been abducted by the Taliban. Throughout the book, there are a lot of interesting events. One was when Parvana attacked the guards trying to take her Father. Another event was when Parvana was digging up bones from a graveyard to get more money. A third event was very exciting when her father came home. I liked the book of The Breadwinner, I liked it because Parvana didn't give up after her dad was taken to jail. I also think it is good because it had a unique way and very descriptive. A strange part however, was when the criminals got their hands chopped off. In my opinion the book was good. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in books like this with historical events. I recommend this for all ages because it is a great book for kids any age interested in this book.

The Breadwinner book takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan. The main character is Parvana with her mom, father, her sister Nooria, and Miriam also her brother Ali. Parvana's father was recently out of jail a few weeks before Mazar-e-Shariff was conquerd. Parvana had to cut her hair and to change all her clothes to dress like a boy. Also Parvana's father had his legs cut off. All of her family are stuck in a one room house. Their houses were bombed and they became more poor each time and now live in a smaller house. Also, the law in Kabul, Afghanistan was that no women or girl could leave th e house without a man to join them outside. The genre of the book is realistic fiction because it sounds like it could be real but is not. The theme of the book is bravery because Parvana showed bravery throughout the book. The setting of the book happens to take place in Kabul, Afghanistan. The conflict of the story is that the father has been taken to jail. Since hes in jail, they can't go out to get the stuff she needed like food or other things. Also, when Nooria was going to get married all but Parvana went with and now Mazar-e-Sharif where the family went. One event was when Parvana was defending her dad when attacking the guards trying to take her father for getting an education in another country. Another event was when Parvana went digging for bones in the graveyard. I liked the book because it had some characters that show bravery in the book. I would recommend to kids all ages because they can learn something from Parvana of never giving up. Also, it's a five star book. Others will like it too like I did.

The Breadwinner

By:VL

Parvana a girl who lives with her mother, her father, and a woman named Ms.Weera. Parvana is living in the "War Town Land". She had to wear a chador (a chador is a piece of cloth that covers some ones hair). She couldn't go outside with out it. The Taliban would get them and take the people to jail. Parvana I would consider my favorite character in the story because she has a different way of seeing things, she thinks the war will be over soon. The story is interesting, but in the other hand it is sad. She thinks the war will be over soon. She is having a hard time because her father got captured and is in jail. I think this is the saddest part in this story because she can't be with her dad. Deborah Ellis change some things in the story like she had some character's talk to each other like friends would do. The story tells you how people lived during wars. They are having some problems because her dad is not with them and they can't go outside. I would recommend this story to people that like sad stories. The feelings I experience in this story, is that it is not the sadness what you feel you really have to go deeper in the story what might you feel if you were reading this book, what do you feel in your heart? Parvana was a very kind girl she was a very lovely friend to be. (When Parvana couldn't go outside would her into a boy? Read the story and find out.

The Breadwinner
(...)

Parvana a girl who lives with her mother, her father, and a woman named Ms.Weera. Parvana is living in the "War Town Land". She had to wear a chador (a chador is a piece of cloth that covers some ones hair). She couldn't go outside with out it. The Taliban would get them and take the people to jail. Parvana I would consider my favorite character in the story because she has a different way of seeing things, she thinks the war will be over soon. The story is interesting, but in the other hand it is sad. She thinks the war will be over soon. She is having a hard time because her father got captured and is in jail. I think this is the saddest part in this story because she can't be with her dad. Deborah Ellis change some things in the story like she had some character's talk to each other like friends would do. The story tells you how people lived during wars. They are having some problems because her dad is not with them and they can't go outside. I would recommend this story to people that like sad stories. The feelings I experience in this story, is that it is not the sadness what you feel you really have to go deeper in the story what might you feel if you were reading this book, what do you feel in your heart? Parvana was a very kind girl she was a very lovely friend to be. (When Parvana couldn't go outside would her into a boy? Read the story and find out.

Have you ever been through hard times? Well Parvana and her family have. First their country is captive and is being controlled by a group in a different country named the Taliban, and then their father is arrested and their family left struggling for food and money. Also in this time in Afghanistan {the country they live in} women are not allowed out side without a man. So they shave Parvana's head to look like a boy so they can make more money.

This book is by Deborah Ellis and gets to the point! A sad point, the point is that war can take and lose members of your family .I think this book is for any kid over the age of 9 because it is saddening and may be nonsense to younger children because many kids don't know what and how war effects you.

Imagine having to move constantly and lose more things every time well I don't know how it would make me feel but I would feel really sad and upset. If you know how this feels you have some similarities with Parvana. During the story girls are forbidden to attend school and so when she becomes "boy" looking for money she meet's a friend named

Shoushia and they get a new job digging bones and making twice as much as she was making well cant tell you any more

So hope you enjoy!

A powerful story of 11-year-old Parvana living in Afganistan under the Taliban. When her father is arrested and imprisoned without a trial, Parvana and her mother, teenage sister and two very young siblings are left with no means to survive--without a man in the family to escort them the women cannot leave the house to shop for food or work. So, in desperation, Parvana's mother cuts off her hair and Parvana begins life as "the breadwinner" for the family, disguised as a boy.

Horrors of life in this oppressive and war torn society (dismemberment, mass killings, children --including Parvana-- digging up human bones to sell) are not glossed over, nor are they dwelt on unduly. Parvana sees many instances of bravery along the way--her mother begins writing an underground newspaper along with other women, for instance. This absorbing novel ends on a realistic, but still hopeful, note. For middle school and up due to very mature subject matter, despite the 4th grade reading level.

Parvana is an 11 year old girl and lives in a bombed apartment in Afghanistan. Her parents have good educations and her father had oved to England to study at Oxford University. Her family had used to live in larger houses, starting with a mansion, but when it was bombed down they moved to a smaller house and then that was bombed moving to an even smaller. Parvana's dad now works in the local town as a letter writer and reader, Parvna in her burque assists him from home to work and back. So one ordinary day, Parvna has done her chores, assisted her father home and was now sitting on a rug eating and enjoying hot, warm nan (Indian for bread) when a troupe of rogue soldiers burst into their apartment and take their father away from them due to his foreign education. The Taliban (a group of extremists who run Afghanistan) detest foreign ideas and dream of Afghanistan as a wonderful country with it's own eastern asian ideas. From the very moment her father is taken away, Parvana's life shatters. So does the household and her mother. Parvana soon lives in a stinking house full of waste nappies and other horrid odours. So one day Parvana goes shopping and is attacked by a Talibanese soldier, she runs into the arms of Mrs. Weera: a friends of her mothers and also the ex-leader of a group of Afghani suffragettes. Mrs Weera fixes up her family with her lively spirit, making the household cleaner and brighter. It is now that Parvna's father is gone is that Parvana takes charge of the family. Dressing up as a boy Parvana takes a job as a letter reader and writer. She makes the house an abundance of money, meanwhile making friends with a most perculiar person........

Parvana is a wonderful book of gratitude, friendship and postition and gave me a great outlook on a young girl trying her best to stay invisible to the Taliban eye.

If you like stories that are full of suspense and cruelty, then you should try the book The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis. This 170-page historical fiction book grabs the readers' attention with one girl's misery and pain as she tries to deal with the new rules of Afghanistan. The Breadwinner gives a new feeling to what you might think of the country Afghanistan because the story is told from the point of view of an eleven-year-old girl named Parvana. She tells a gory version of what's going on in Afghanistan, but the excitement doesn't stop there. Parvana has to dress up as a boy in order to save her family. The reason is because her father-the only one allowed out of the house is a man-got sent to prison all because he was educated. This book has a large impact on my opinion of Afghanistan. You wouldn't believe how people are treated in this part of the Middle East. They even have people with guns walking around the streets looking for anybody doing something wrong like a woman not wearing a burqa. "It suddenly dawned on Parvana that she could see the woman's face. It wasn't covered up with a burqa." This book is age appropriate for ages 10 and up. I think this because some parts of this book are really graphic and you can see the images of the pain flashing through your head. I wouldn't recommend this book for many people because most people I know don't like graphic things. This book is $5.95 for the paperback version. When my dad moved out for a couple of days, I kind of felt how Parvana felt when her father got taken away. I think maybe this book is a little too graphic and that the author should ease up on the gore. This book may have too little characters. I think there should have been more characters to make the story more exciting. I compare this book to the book Dragonwings because both of the main characters had to go through a great deal of change. So if you're looking for a book with goriness, then this book is for you.

The intriguing book The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is about the Taliban taking over Afghanistan. There is a young girl who has no men in her family and needs to be allowed to go outside and work for money and food or her family will starve, if she gets caught she might get killed by the Taliban or go to prison and get beaten.
This book makes readers want to keep reading, for example Parvana's father gets taken to prison and since women are not allowed outside without a man, her family doesn't know how they can earn money and nourish themselves, so Mrs.Weera (Parvana's mothers friend) lives with them now, she tells Parvana's mother "We'll have to think of something else." So Parvana decides to pretend to be a boy to be able to feed her family. That is just one example; there are many parts of the book like this. It also has suspense in it, like when Parvana goes outside without a boy, she gets caught by the Taliban and hit. The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is a very intriguing book.

In this book, there was a girl named Parvana who lived with her mother, father, two sister's, and her brother, in Afghanistan. In the book her father is taking away for being educated outside of Kulban. Women aren't aloud outside, so with out a man they could not leave the house. Parvana must become a boy and go work to feed her family. Parvana sees her old school mate (BEFORE THEY CLOSED ALL SCHOOLS) and she becomes her friend. Her mother starts a secret school and her oldest sister is one of the teachers, a little later her oldest sister becomes engaged to a boy. Parvana's mother and siblings leave to go to the wedding ,which would take a couple of days to arrive. In the end of the book Parvana's father gets out of jail and goes home to once again be back with his family, only to find his daughter a boy and the rest of his family gone. Parvana heard that there was terrible things going on where her mother and siblings were, she sets off to look for them with her father.

I found this book very interesting, and unexpected. Every time I turned the page there was a new surprise waiting. I highly suggest this book to everyone.

Consider this a modern-day Mulan story, set in a Taliban-dominated Afghanistan rather than a Mongol-invaded China. The tale is historical fiction, based on true events recounted to the author during visits to Afghan refugee camps in the late 1990's. At that time, women had to be concealed in burqas and escorted by men whenever they went outdoors. So when the father of eleven-year-old Parvana is jailed by the Taliban, she is the only member of the family who can pass as a boy, and work outside to support the family. Told without any sense of sorrow or pity, the events are described on a level that children can appreciate: the matter-of-fact daily inconveniences of Parvana's life, like going to the well for water every day; the complications of the whole family living in a single room; the mother who cannot go outdoors keeps herself busy by continually rearranging the family's dwindling possessions; the teen-aged sister, bored and frustrated, amuses herself by teasing and insulting Parvana; the difficulty of finding anything to read, much less having enough light to read by; and the sudden realization that children don't have any toys or friends. Not threatening or overpowering because it seems a universe away from a comfortable American life, it has that Roald Dahl sense that children have innate common sense and power to solve grown-up problems. Also, Parvana's indomitable spirit will find a way to survive and overcome repression and cruelty. An excellent choice for young readers, and especially good for children's reading groups or school, as it raises so many issues for discussion.

I think that the book The breadwinner is a very facsinating story that covers alot of issues about war and injustice. Parvana is 11 years old and she has no freedom. She can't go outside since the Taliban has ordered that no female people are allowed to go outside unless they are accompianied by a male, or have a note. Then suddenly, Parvana's life changes since her father is taken away and she has to dress up as a boy and become The Breadwinner for her family. She starts by reading letters for people who cant read, but then she finds a friend from her school doing the same thing so they dig up bones to earn money. I think The Breadwinner is a really good story and i like how Deborah Ellis has shown how much people can suffer in Afghanistan, like "There are more landmines then flowers in Kabul" This book covers alot of issues and i would rate it 4 stars.

I think that the book The breadwinner is a very facsinating story that covers alot of issues about war and injustice. Parvana is 11 years old and she has no freedom. She can't go outside since the Taliban has ordered that no female people are allowed to go outside unless they are accompianied by a male, or have a note. Then suddenly, Parvana's life changes since her father is taken away and she has to dress up as a boy and become The Breadwinner for her family. She starts by reading letters for people who cant read, but then she finds a friend from her school doing the same thing so they dig up bones to earn money. I think The Breadwinner is a really good story and i like how Deborah Ellis has shown how much people can suffer in Afghanistan, like "There are more landmines then flowers in Kabul" This book covers alot of issues and i would rate it 4 stars.

In The Breadwinner, Deborah Ellis tries very hard to describe the situation in Afghanistan in a manner comprehensible by a North American child. Unfortunately, she tries too hard. The family depicted, although portrayed with careful characterization, reads like a North American family pasted into the foreign setting. As a previous reviewer noted, no mention of Islam is ever made, either in describing the day to day life of the family or in describing anything at all in the city.
The historical background is sketchy at best -- too dry to interest a young child reader, and too vague and inaccurate (with incorrect dates and no attention given to motivations or historical backgrounds of the participants in Afghanistan's endless war) to be a useful source for an older YA reader attempting to learn about the region. Often given in blocks of exposition rather than mixed into the dialogue and thoughts of the characters, it melds poorly with the story.
The story itself rambles in several directions but never quite reaches any of them despite a promising beginning. Characters come and go or, in some cases such as the mysterious window woman, are hinted at but never revealed. If the author is attempting to represent the confusion and chaos of living through war, she has done an excellent job, but I believe she has done so at the cost of ignoring her format -- a novel for young children who would most likely find a clear beginning, middle, and ending more engaging and easier to follow.
The Breadwinner is a slightly less than average book that offers oversimplification of complex issues without making up for this lack in the departments of plot or quality writing. Like other books written about Afghanistan, it is experiencing a surge of increased attention in the post 9/11 world, but I worry for any who see it as an accurate description of the country and not, as it is intended, as a simple story.

I bought this to read with a child I was tutoring. His whole class was reading it and I was very glad that I got a copy for me. It is a riveting book about a young girl who is living in a country that is being destroyed by the Taliban. Her family sacrifices, and what she does in order to help her family seems very realistic in its outlook. A difficult life to imagine.

BOOK REVIEW

Genre: Contemporary Realistic Fiction
Title: The Breadwinner
Author: Deborah Ellis
Copyright Date: 2000
Publisher: Groundwood Book/Douglas & McIntyre
Number of Pages:170
Approximate Grade level/Age Span: Upper Elementary and Junior High School

Identify Booklist Award and Award Year: Middle East Book Award (2002), Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Award (2003), Swedish Peter Pan Prize (2003), YALSA PPYA (2003)

Awards: This book was chosen as an award winner because it is a piece of literature that exposes young readers to a societal culture that may be unfamiliar to them. The content of the book relates to current day political and social issues occurring in Afghanistan. The author’s language includes imagery that allows the readers to step into the world of the main character and also understand a child’s perspective about living in a volatile environment.

Setting: The setting of the book takes place in Kabul, the capital city of Afghanistan. Understanding the landscape, weather, economic status, and societal culture of Kabul enhances the readers understanding of the story. Ellis gives vivid descriptions in her writing of the environment and how the political warfare causes its inhabitants to live in turmoil. The author’s description of the location in which the story is set gives the reader further insight on the main characters’ motivation to act.

Main Characters: The main character of the play is Parvana, an Afghanistan girl who is approximately upper elementary aged. Under close guard of the Taliban army, she lives in a small room with her father, mother, older sister, younger sister, and baby brother. When Parvana’s father is arrested and placed in prison by the Taliban, Ms. Weera, a close friend of the family, comes to live with the family in order to help them survive. Inevitably, Parvana, disguised as a boy, works with her friend Shauzia, to earn a living for the family in the market place. The main characters of the book resemble how a real family living in current day Afghanistan may pull together in tough times to survive. Also, although the societal culture differs from American families, there is still the idea that people make sacrifices for the ones they love. Also, the characters are related to young readers in various societal cultures. For example, Paravana and her older sister bicker a lot, Parvana’s mother has placed the sole responsibility of making money on Parvana because she is the most resourceful of the children, and Parvana’s father is particularly fond of her although he loves all of his children. The character of Parvana, although specific to Afghan society, is portrayed in a universal light as “the chosen one.”

Summary of Plot: The plot begins with Parvana assisting her father with working in the marketplace to read and interpret letters for locals who were unable to read. Parvana’s father is crippled as a result of the regular bombing occurrences in Kabul and therefore relies on Parvana to assist him with walking to the market. In this society, the Taliban Army place strict limitations on females; females must be accompanied by a male when walking out on the streets and females are required to wear clothing that covers their entire face and body only revealing their eyes. One evening, the Taliban raids Parvana’s home, destroying items and arresting her father. Once Parvana’s family and family friend Mrs. Weera realize that Parvana’s father is not going to be returning in the near future, they concoct a plan to disguise Parvana as boy in order to read letters and sell items in the marketplace. While in the market place, Parvana discovers that Shauzia, a female classmate of hers, is also disguised as a boy in order to make money in the marketplace for her family. The girls are never recognized by market places goers or Taliban soldiers as females and come up with several means, sometimes not ideal, to make money including digging up human bones in a grave yard for cash. On day after returning from the marketplace Parvana’s mother announces that the family will be taking a trip to the neighboring country of Mazar, which is believed to be free of Taliban control, in order to have Parvana’s older sister married. Parvana, however, will stay in Kabul with Mrs. Weera so that word does not get out that she is now disguised as boy. Once her mother and siblings depart, Parvana becomes depressed until one day her father accompanied by two men arrives home. Soon word travels to Mrs. Weera that Mazar is in fact undergoing political warfare and Parvana’s family who have just recently traveled there are in danger. At the end of the story, Parvana says goodbye to Mrs. Weera and Shauzia, and mounts the back of a truck with her father on a voyage to rescue her family members.

Evaluation: This novel is realistic fiction and in my opinion represents what does happen to many children living in societies that are oppressed by strict military control. More specifically, it is an adventure story because it gives specific details on how the main character had courage to overcome dangerous circumstances are specific to a particular environment. However, this is a story about universal relationships including main character’s relationships with family and close friends. The setting is described in great detail including a map of Afghanistan in the beginning of the book, a brief history of the political and social occurrences in Afghanistan, and definitions for clothing, food, and places mentioned in the text. The detailed description that the author provides in the novel allows the reader to build a mental picture of the societal culture in which the main character lives. The main theme that is expressed in this text is sexism as it relates to the oppression of women in Afghan culture. In this novel women were allowed little freedoms including not being allowed to attend school; the reader is able to see how the main character takes matters into her own hands by disguising herself as male. Parvana’s new identity allows her to provide for her family, experience new liberties, and thus gain a sense of self worth that surpasses societal limitations. Finally, the novel is written from the third person perspective, therefore, the narration refers to characters as he, she, or they and the characters’ perspectives are further explained to the reader through quoted lines. The author’s writing is appropriate for upper elementary and junior high school students because sentences are short and simple and those words that are specific to the Afghan culture are defined in the last pages of the book.

Recommendation: I would recommend this book to students in upper elementary and junior high school to read for leisure as well as a part of a course curriculum. The book is diverse in that it exposes readers to a societal culture and environment that differs from life in America which can prompt class discussions about issues that young people face in foreign countries. Students in social studies can began to understand issues related to sexism as well as political and social issues that are associated with oppressive ruling; they can compare and contrast issues that they see in their environment with those experiences the characters in the novel undergo. The novel’s language is simple and allows young readers, who often hear comments on the news about Afghanistan as it relates to war with the United States, further insight about the average life of young person living Afghanistan. I would also recommend this novel to elementary and middle school students because the author wrote it in a way that makes a very complicated subject comprehensible to students who are in the early stages of learning how the world functions.

Deborah Ellis brings to life the horrors and unfairness of war on the civilians who are thrown into poverty and despair overnight. The Breadwinner, told through the eyes of an 11-year-old girl, reveals how all hope isn’t lost as Parvana interacts with her community. Parvana lives in Kabul, Afghanistan during the Taliban’s rule. The Taliban have ruled that all females must be covered when in public and accompanied by their husband or father. Parvana’s mother and older sister are confined to their one-room home in a war torn building where they take care of the younger children. Parvana accompanies her father to the market where he works as a reading and writing specialist. The majority of the Afghans and Taliban are illiterate, and her father’s education is the sole means for the family’s survival. Parvana loves to go to the market and help her father if for no other reason than to escape the boredom she finds at home. No longer able to go to school for the past year due to the Taliban rules, she learns to adapt to a new way of life. Upon her father’s arrest for being educated in another country, the family has no means for income which will mean no food. Parvana’s mother insists she cut her hair and pretend to be a boy so that she can sell goods and help her family survive. Parvana must fool the Taliban, become the breadwinner, and sustain her family’s existence. She begins to see beyond the destruction around her when she interprets a letter for a Taliban soldier who sheds a tear over his deceased wife. The heroine may be young, but she is determined to be brave and dependable as she is her family’s last hope for survival. This is a contemporary children’s story written for young readers who can relate to Parvana’s age, her feelings of being too young to help and too old to be coddled like a baby, and her desire to do something big and noticeable. The Breadwinner is reflective of today’s multicultural writing. The protagonist could be any child of any race who must deal with unfair treatment, despair, survival, and still have hope for a future. With wars currently being fought in many countries, children around the globe can imagine themselves in Parvana’s situation. For those who do not know war, they can still feel the heroism of helping their family in a time of need. This story can give them hope that they can make a difference regardless of their young age in combatting the injustices of society.

The BreadWinner is a fantastic book.It is full of adventure.It's about a little girl, named Parvana, who lives in Afghanistan during a time when girls weren't allowed to go outside without a man to work and get money. But one day her father went away to prison wich meant they had no other boy to go out and get the food and milk they needed. Soon they needed food so badly they shaved Parvana's hair off so she could look like a boy and could get the food.This was a new experience for Parvana. Every day she would go out and earn money by selling things or reading and writting letters for the people. Then she would buy the food for the family. If you want find out more about this book I think you should read it.

Deborah Ellis's novel, The Breadwinner, is about an 11 year old Afghani girl named Parvana living under the Taliban rule in Kabul,Afghanistan. When her father gets arrested by the Taliban, Parvana must disguise herself as a boy to earn income and bring food for the family.

At first, Parvana worries about getting caught. But time goes on, nobody questions her gender. If she was revealed to be a girl,Taliban would surely punish her perhaps with death.

Under the Taliban rule, women are severely oppressed and abused like second class citizens. They are not permitted outside their home without a male escort. They must wear burkas covering them entirely.

This novel is both easy to read and enjoyable as well as enlightening about Afghani life under Taliban rule. Men like Parvana's father could be seen as a threat to the system.

I found this novel to be delightful overall. I couldn't get enough. I wanted to know what happened to Parvana and her family and friends.

The Breadwinner's superficial plot concerns a young girl living under the Taliban who's father is arrested. She dresses up as a boy so she can go out and shop and earn money. It was written (very well written in fact) by an aid worker so it has more than a touch of realism. The greatest value of the book is that it provides a perspective into a very different world, and it does so skillfully and perceptively. While the book maintains a hopeful tone, the subject matter is dark, and is not sugar coated or simplified. The father's situation is eventually resolved, but by that point the protagonist has even more concerns. If you think it is a book that might be suitable for a younger child, I suggest taking a look at it first to assure yourself that your child is sufficiently mature for the material. It is a quick read for an adult.

While Ellis' story is engaging enough, I question its accessibility to today's youth, namely because I think Ellis does not do a good enough job painting a portrait about what Kabul is like. I recognize that Ellis may be sparing some readers unnecessary horror, but there are certainly places--such as the marketplace where Parvana goes to sell her wares--where Ellis could have infused much richer detail in the sights, sounds, and experiences of the average Afghan. I also think it would have been better to define the unknown terms (chador, nan) and elements of history within the narrative itself, rather than wait until the end of the book, since most young Americans will be unfamiliar with these terms, and the whole notion of Soviet occupation. Still, I am happy to see children's literature about this region springing up, and hope that this book encourages other writers to tell these stories.

A young girl in Afghanistan must disguise herself as a boy in order to save her family from starvation when her father is arrested by the Taliban. There really isn't much of a story here, but more of a portrait of a war torn country under the weight of terrible oppression, and a spirit that cannot be crushed. Characters and people are portrayed quite well, through the point of view of the young girl (who is very accessible to young Western readers). Reading level is about fifth grade, so the writing style leaves much to be desired. But the matter is so very important today, that this is a must read. Grade: B

A war-torn country plagued by violence. An 11-year-old girl forced to risk her life and save her family. These are the realities in Deborah Ellis' novel "The Breadwinner" (Groundwood Books 2000). Told from young Parvana's perspective, the story focuses on her family of six living in Kabul, Afghanistan. After the Taliban take control of their city, Parvana's family is forced out of their large home by a bomb explosion and into a one-room apartment. The women are removed from school and forced to stay in the house unless escorted by a male. When Parvana's father is arrested because he attended university in England, their family must make the tough decision to have her pose as a boy in order to leave the house and work in the marketplace to earn money for food. While working, Parvana runs into Shauzia, a girl she knew from school who is also posing as a boy to support her family. They start to work together and soon become close friends, encountering a number of sobering, scary situations along the way. Though children may not experience the same life, they will no doubt relate to Parvana's story and her arguments with her older sister, unfairness of chore responsibilities, and love for her family. The Breadwinner is not a happy story with a happy conclusion, but one that will leave the reader with a different view of Afghanistan, as seen through the eyes of a child. An author's note and glossary of terms serve as a helpful aide in introducing children to the history and culture of Afghanistan.

First of all, what did I think about this book? It made me feel uneasy. Why? Well, basically it made me feel as if I was getting into someone's life and that it was none of my business to know about Afghan life. Before I read this book, I hated the idea of knowing how the Afghan world was, but now, I have relented to this idea, and now I want to learn more about it.

I liked how the book gave tidied and consecutive events.Considering that the Afghanistan world is as closed as a fortress, it's information about the Afghan people's lives expands into a lot of detail. I also like that this book takes its time to tell the story, meaning that it does not take strides to get ahead of the plot. Not only does it take its time to develop the story, but it is very uncluttered. What do I mean with this? What I want to say with this is that the story is very organized and there is no confusion at all while reading it. I would also like to add that the author did great job developing her characters. Especially Parvana.

Who is Parvana? Parvana is the main character in "The Breadwinner". She is also my favourite character because she is brave and strong. She didn't break down when her father was not there with her. But a bad characteristic of her is her personality. She can sometimes be very self-centered. She always fumes and sulks when she doesn't get it her way. Besides being brave and strong, a good characteristic of Parvana is that she is never a gruff person, and if she is, it's only on seldom occasions.

Who should read this book? I would recommend this book to the kind of people who like to know about the cultures all around the globe. I would also recommend this book to the people who like books with not much idle, becasue in my opinion, this book doesn't much action. I literally dozed off while reading "The Breadwinner" because I'm all about action books. I also think that the story lingers too much. I mean that the author writes about an event too much.

Life for women under the Taliban regime in Afghanistan is not the stuff of which happy children's books are made. There is no happy ending here, regardless of the obstacles which are overcome, because the real-life ending has not yet come.
This book, while fiction, is the result of interviews with women who escaped from Kabul and who were living in camps in Pakistan, including one mother who disguised her daughter as a boy. The setting is true to time and place as it captures life for one family in one short period of time. (Ellis is donating the book sales to an organization dedicated to educating girls in refugee camps.)
It is a simple story, and engaging, as the reader follows the daily life of a fictional family as they struggle to survive the imprisonment of the father. His absence from the home means that they no longer have food, or communication outside the home because the female members of the family cannot go out unescorted by a male. Parvana, who is pre-adolescent, surrenders her long hair to help her family, and disguised as a boy earns a little money by selling things from their home or reading for the largely illiterate population. Thus she is able to shop for food. Her bravery is the focal point of the story and the reader is reminded of the courage and strength of children everywhere who survive against incredible odds.
Ellis has done well to write this as a story for children/young adults. While she doe not gloss over the hard parts of life in Kabul under the Taliban with executions, dismemberment, and imprisonment without a trial or a public charge neither does she dwell on them at length. Being without food or a father is hard enough for one story; living in fear adds more trauma. Everyday hardships such as the closing of school, the absence of music, and the difficulties of communication add to the realities of the story. But Ellis allows Parvana to see a Taliban soldier as human when she reads a letter for the illiterate man and watches his eyes fill with tears. To see the enemy as human is a triumph of the human spirit and gives this book its hope.

I thought this was a great book. It was interesting to see how other people lived in different countries but at the same time it was very sad to read about all the things the family had to go through. It helped me to understand what it would be like to live in Afghanistan and have someone take over your country. It was very easy to understand and I enjoyed reading it. I recommend this book to anyone 10 and up.

i read this book in about 2 hours! i couldnt stop reading! then i read the sequel in almost 1 hour! after the sequel i was crying for an hour. it was so sad! but still good! after reading these books my mom saw how much i liked them and bought me the 3rd book. i havent been home to read it yet though. reading this book made me want to help all the poor souls in the world. in fact after this i voulentered at an animal shelter. it makes you realize how much help the world needs in some places. and we are the ones who have to help. READ THESE BOOKS THERE GREAT!

The Breadwinner By:Deborah Ellis Reviewed by Neehar Thakor Period 1

This is a very compelling and rich story. It is about a girl who lives in afghanistan and has deal with the taliban. Her father was taken away and she now becomes a boy to get food and money for her family. She then finds out her mother is taking her older sister to a place in north afghanistan. Parvana is afraid because she thinks the taliban people will take her parents away. They disguise themselves as peasants and go toward that place. A week later, She finds out that the town her mom went to is destroyed because the taliban have gotten there. Parvana decides to go to that city to look for her long lost family, but the rest you will have to find out in the sequel of this rich yet quaint story called The Breadwinner.

The reason I liked this story is beacause it is about a strong family that suvives through hardships. This book is also sad in the sese that many bad things happen in Parvana's life. First,The taliban come and ruin her life. Second, Her father is taken by the taliban to jail for god knows what. Third, She has to become a boy so she can buy food and earn some money. I like the way the author ses discriptive language , so we can imagine the scene in our heads. I think Parvana is a very brave and courageous girl for jumping on to the line of duty when her family needs her most, and dealing with the hardships of everyday life and keeping her chin up.

The things that i did not like were pretty obvious. There were to many episodes of sadness in the book. If there were more happy scenes or something when good stuff happened, i would be completly satisfied if there were some happy moments. I also didnt like all the death and gruesome stories in this. I kind of felt uncomfortable. Those are just some of the things the book could improve on to make it a real good classic. Other than that the book was really good, and it also had a nice flow to it. All the things came in a time sequence. Well, thats all i had to say for this part of the story.

My favorite part of the story was when Parvana turned into a boy. I liked it because for me it showed an entire new character. So many emotions were going through Parvana's head such as scared, frightened,and curious. It was like a whole new character . I also liked it when Parvanafound her true friendd. She met her in the marketplace as she was selling things and they just became relly good friends.

The Breadwinner is a historical fiction book about the hard life in Afghanistan. A young girl has to dress as a boy to earn money for food. The woman can`t go outside without a man. Afghanistan at the time was ruled by a cruel Taliban group. The main characteris forced to dress as a boy because her father is in prison for being an educated man.One of the ways she got money is from digging up peoples bones from bomb rubble. This book is great because we learn about the hard life in other countries. This book is for grades five through seven.

I cannot say that I enjoyed this book, but rather I should say that I respected this book. Being an advocate for women's rights, enjoying this book would be a setback in that thought process. It does give a very good account of what girls and women are still going through in other places of the world. Often we get very comfortable in our own lifestyle of freedom and forget to realize that our freedom is not shared to everyone outside the United States. That being said, it was not all THAT long ago when women had few rights even here. Some people would say that this book deals with very dark and serious issues, and therefore should not be read by children. I believe, after reading the book, it is appropriate for young children to read. No, it is not a fairy tale, but children hear and see things going on in real life that are not fairy tales. The story involves real issues, including violence, but does not go overboard on gory aspects. Even if it were gorier, I still would support this book. Video games show more violence than this book discusses.

Instead of focusing on violence, I believe this book focuses on how far people will go to protect themselves and their family. It is an example of what people would do in order to survive. In this book the main character was forced to cut her hair and dress as a boy in order to earn money so her family could eat and survive. The only man in the family, the father, was imprisoned for no real reason other than he was educated prior to the Taliban taking over the country. In this book, the true sacrifice was the character's actual identities. The father hid his books, although education was a strong aspect of his identity. The main character hid the fact that she was a girl, therefore changing her identity. The mother hid her strength, the cornerstone of her identity. The older sister had to hide her identity, literally, by being forced to wear a burqa. I feel that this book is not only about opening the eyes of readers to see what is going on in Afghanistan, but it is also a book about the unfair identity struggles that have been a result of the Taliban regime.

"Stay away from Afghan women or we'll kill you." Underneath was a crude drawing of a knife with blood dripping from it. This note was delivered in spring last year to Deborah Ellis who was in Peshawar, researching her book The Breadwinner. This is the story of Parvana, an eleven year old girl, who, in order to save herself and herfamily, cuts her hair short and wears the clothes of her older brother, Hossain, killed by a land mine.
Back in Toronto, Ellis paired up girls' schools in Ontario with girls' schools in the camps in Peshawar and Quetta. Funds were sent for building classrooms and establishing scholarships. In the spring and fall of 1998, Ellis visited Moscow. By this time she had begun researching the role of women in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She wanted to find out how this war, which lasted for 10 years, impacted on women from the time it started in 1979 until the present. Her book, Women of the Afghan War,published by Praeger, makes a connection between the women on both sides: the attacker and the attacked.
But the most searing indictment of conditions in Afghanistan is her most recent book, The Breadwinner. Written for children and published by Groundwood Books, The Breadwinner evolved from Ellis's conversations with refugee Afghan women and girls. There is a connection between The Breadwinner and Ellis's first book Looking for X, set in Toronto and winner of the Governor General's Award, 2000. In both books strong girl characters work out how to survive in a difficult world.
Ellis met the mother and sister of a girl in Kabul who cut off her hair, put on boy's clothes and sold things off a tray in the marketplace to support her family. "They told me a lot of girls were doing this," Ellis said. "Their fathers and brothers were killed or imprisoned, and they have to go out and earn money to support their families ."
What she heard reminded Ellis of children's enormous capacity for acts of courage when they cannot rely on the adult world. "Out of the horror of war and oppression that has been Afghanistan for the last two decades rise the voices for girls who insist on saying, 'We're still alive. We're still human. Hear us.'"
Parvana has lived for the past year and a half in one small room in Kabul with her father, mother, two sisters and baby brother. To cross this room on the third floor of a bombed out apartment building, Parvana takes ten steps one way and twelve steps the other way. The windows, in conformity with the decrees of the Taliban, are painted black - except for one window, small and high up, through which the sun's rays filter for a short period. Every day the women and children huddle together in this beam of light before it disappears.
Formerly this family, highly educated, of old respected Afghan stock, lived comfortably in a big house with a courtyard. They had a car and a couple of servants. The bombs destroyed their home and they had moved several times since then, losing more of their belongings with each subsequent bombing.
Ellis's achievement is that she has integrated within a suspenseful story the brutal conditions in Afghanistan. Every detail in her account of Parvana's family - to whom she does not give a last name, for even a fictional name can lead to terrible repercussions - is taken from first hand sources, and clandestine film footage smuggled out of Afghanistan.
The privations of this particular family are true for millions of others, especially those who live in Kabul. But, for the women and girls, who are under what amounts to house arrest, it is harder. Household chores like getting water, cooking, and caring for younger children develop into strategies for keeping alive, for keeping up one's morale.
It takes five pails of water to fill the metal drum, the family's water tank, housed in a miniscule alcove which also does duty as kitchen and lavatory. The hardship is not that there is no running water but that the women cannot fetch water from a communal tap outside. Restricted by their burquas, Parvana's mother and older sister, 17 year old Nooria, cannot negotiate the broken stairs, let alone lug a pail of water up them. The stairs were on the outside of the building, zigzagging back and forth on their way up. They had been damaged by the bomb, and didn't quite meet in places. Only some parts of the staircase had a railing... The streets, filled with potholes, are also hazardous. Women, covered from head to foot with mesh across their faces, often fall down and hurt themselves. Besides, going without a man is always dangerous.
And for those who have lost limbs it's even worse: There were a lot of false legs for sale in the market now. Since the Taliban decreed that women must stay inside, many husbands took their wives' false legs away. "You're not going anywhere, so why do you need a leg?" they asked.
Parvana's father, who is himself an amputee - he had lost the lower part of his leg during a bomb explosion - is hauled off to prison by the Taliban because he had spent time studying in England, and come back with "foreign" ideas. Reading matter, unrelated to the Qur'an, is subversive, and the Taliban, mostly illiterate, burn books they don't like. At first Parvana continues doing what her father, a history teacher, did: reading and writing letters in the market of Kabul for those who cannot read or write themselves - the majority of the population. Her university educated mother, who has been kicked out from her job as a writer at one of the radio stations, gives her things left over from the bombings to peddle at the market: dishes, bed linen, clothes.
But the family is still short of money for rent, food and fuel. While Parvana is trying to figure out how to earn more, she meets a former school mate, Shawzia, who is working as a tea boy in the market. Shawzia tells her if they have trays of their own, they can follow the crowd instead of waiting for the crowd to come to them. That way they'll make more money.
The two girls go bone-digging. They join the hordes of other children scrabbling in the churned-up earth

(Jackie from Chicago, IL)

Have you ever opened a book, read the first sentence, wondered: `Now why would an author start off a book like that?' then after finishing the book understood why? Well in the Historical Fiction Novel, The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, that's exactly the case. "I can read that letter as well as Father can," Parvana whispered into the folds of her chador. "Well, almost." Is how Ellis chose to start off the 168, (170 if you count the glossary in the back of the book) page novel, which kept me questioning: `What's a chador?' `What does reading a letter have to do with anything?' `Is reading the theme of this book?' and `What makes Parvana's Father that much better at reading a letter than she is?' Then, as I kept reading on, all my questions were answered. Reading letters was part of how they made a living, chador's are what girls wore for clothing, Parvana's dad was a little better at reading than Parvana because he had an education in England, and no, the theme of the book was not "reading", it was, in my opinion, taking risks. In the story, Parvana and her family have to take lots of risks. For example, Parvana has to take many risks because her family is educated and the Taliban, (a group of dictators overpowering Afghanistan) hates people who are educated because they feel like they can take over them if they have more knowledge. This is one reason why I thought The Breadwinner was a marvelous novel, the suspense and tension in the book kept you wanting to read the book forever until you found the answer to what you were looking for. I also thought this was a pleasant book because of Deborah Ellis' way of writing. For example, she explains every detail so that the word, sentence, paragraph, or whole page is provided with imagery. One more reason why I think this $5.95 book was phenomenal is because you can compare it to other characters or other books. I had a Text-to-Text connection while reading The Breadwinner: Parvana is a lot like Violet Baudelaire (in the Series of Unfortunate Events) because they both do heroic things to save their family because they both have had a family member (or members) taken away from them. A book I would compare The Breadwinner to is Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples because Parvana and Shabanu are both growing up girls and they are both trying to save their family, but growing up is stopping them. Because of some violence, I wouldn't recommend The Breadwinner to children 8 and younger. Instead I would recommend it to people ages 9 and up who like suspense stories about real things that happen in Afghanistan.

The Breadwinner is a historical fiction book about the hard life in Afghanistan. A young girl has to dress as a boy to earn money for food. The woman can`t go outside without a man. Afghanistan at the time was ruled by a cruel Taliban group. The main characteris forced to dress as a boy because her father is in prison for being an educated man.One of the ways she got money is from digging up peoples bones from bomb rubble. This book is great because we learn about the hard life in other countries. This book is for grades five through seven.

I cannot say that I enjoyed this book, but rather I should say that I respected this book. Being an advocate for women's rights, enjoying this book would be a setback in that thought process. It does give a very good account of what girls and women are still going through in other places of the world. Often we get very comfortable in our own lifestyle of freedom and forget to realize that our freedom is not shared to everyone outside the United States. That being said, it was not all THAT long ago when women had few rights even here. Some people would say that this book deals with very dark and serious issues, and therefore should not be read by children. I believe, after reading the book, it is appropriate for young children to read. No, it is not a fairy tale, but children hear and see things going on in real life that are not fairy tales. The story involves real issues, including violence, but does not go overboard on gory aspects. Even if it were gorier, I still would support this book. Video games show more violence than this book discusses.

Instead of focusing on violence, I believe this book focuses on how far people will go to protect themselves and their family. It is an example of what people would do in order to survive. In this book the main character was forced to cut her hair and dress as a boy in order to earn money so her family could eat and survive. The only man in the family, the father, was imprisoned for no real reason other than he was educated prior to the Taliban taking over the country. In this book, the true sacrifice was the character's actual identities. The father hid his books, although education was a strong aspect of his identity. The main character hid the fact that she was a girl, therefore changing her identity. The mother hid her strength, the cornerstone of her identity. The older sister had to hide her identity, literally, by being forced to wear a burqa. I feel that this book is not only about opening the eyes of readers to see what is going on in Afghanistan, but it is also a book about the unfair identity struggles that have been a result of the Taliban regime.

"Stay away from Afghan women or we'll kill you." Underneath was a crude drawing of a knife with blood dripping from it. This note was delivered in spring last year to Deborah Ellis who was in Peshawar, researching her book The Breadwinner. This is the story of Parvana, an eleven year old girl, who, in order to save herself and herfamily, cuts her hair short and wears the clothes of her older brother, Hossain, killed by a land mine.
Back in Toronto, Ellis paired up girls' schools in Ontario with girls' schools in the camps in Peshawar and Quetta. Funds were sent for building classrooms and establishing scholarships. In the spring and fall of 1998, Ellis visited Moscow. By this time she had begun researching the role of women in the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She wanted to find out how this war, which lasted for 10 years, impacted on women from the time it started in 1979 until the present. Her book, Women of the Afghan War,published by Praeger, makes a connection between the women on both sides: the attacker and the attacked.
But the most searing indictment of conditions in Afghanistan is her most recent book, The Breadwinner. Written for children and published by Groundwood Books, The Breadwinner evolved from Ellis's conversations with refugee Afghan women and girls. There is a connection between The Breadwinner and Ellis's first book Looking for X, set in Toronto and winner of the Governor General's Award, 2000. In both books strong girl characters work out how to survive in a difficult world.
Ellis met the mother and sister of a girl in Kabul who cut off her hair, put on boy's clothes and sold things off a tray in the marketplace to support her family. "They told me a lot of girls were doing this," Ellis said. "Their fathers and brothers were killed or imprisoned, and they have to go out and earn money to support their families ."
What she heard reminded Ellis of children's enormous capacity for acts of courage when they cannot rely on the adult world. "Out of the horror of war and oppression that has been Afghanistan for the last two decades rise the voices for girls who insist on saying, 'We're still alive. We're still human. Hear us.'"
Parvana has lived for the past year and a half in one small room in Kabul with her father, mother, two sisters and baby brother. To cross this room on the third floor of a bombed out apartment building, Parvana takes ten steps one way and twelve steps the other way. The windows, in conformity with the decrees of the Taliban, are painted black - except for one window, small and high up, through which the sun's rays filter for a short period. Every day the women and children huddle together in this beam of light before it disappears.
Formerly this family, highly educated, of old respected Afghan stock, lived comfortably in a big house with a courtyard. They had a car and a couple of servants. The bombs destroyed their home and they had moved several times since then, losing more of their belongings with each subsequent bombing.
Ellis's achievement is that she has integrated within a suspenseful story the brutal conditions in Afghanistan. Every detail in her account of Parvana's family - to whom she does not give a last name, for even a fictional name can lead to terrible repercussions - is taken from first hand sources, and clandestine film footage smuggled out of Afghanistan.
The privations of this particular family are true for millions of others, especially those who live in Kabul. But, for the women and girls, who are under what amounts to house arrest, it is harder. Household chores like getting water, cooking, and caring for younger children develop into strategies for keeping alive, for keeping up one's morale.
It takes five pails of water to fill the metal drum, the family's water tank, housed in a miniscule alcove which also does duty as kitchen and lavatory. The hardship is not that there is no running water but that the women cannot fetch water from a communal tap outside. Restricted by their burquas, Parvana's mother and older sister, 17 year old Nooria, cannot negotiate the broken stairs, let alone lug a pail of water up them. The stairs were on the outside of the building, zigzagging back and forth on their way up. They had been damaged by the bomb, and didn't quite meet in places. Only some parts of the staircase had a railing... The streets, filled with potholes, are also hazardous. Women, covered from head to foot with mesh across their faces, often fall down and hurt themselves. Besides, going without a man is always dangerous.
And for those who have lost limbs it's even worse: There were a lot of false legs for sale in the market now. Since the Taliban decreed that women must stay inside, many husbands took their wives' false legs away. "You're not going anywhere, so why do you need a leg?" they asked.
Parvana's father, who is himself an amputee - he had lost the lower part of his leg during a bomb explosion - is hauled off to prison by the Taliban because he had spent time studying in England, and come back with "foreign" ideas. Reading matter, unrelated to the Qur'an, is subversive, and the Taliban, mostly illiterate, burn books they don't like. At first Parvana continues doing what her father, a history teacher, did: reading and writing letters in the market of Kabul for those who cannot read or write themselves - the majority of the population. Her university educated mother, who has been kicked out from her job as a writer at one of the radio stations, gives her things left over from the bombings to peddle at the market: dishes, bed linen, clothes.
But the family is still short of money for rent, food and fuel. While Parvana is trying to figure out how to earn more, she meets a former school mate, Shawzia, who is working as a tea boy in the market. Shawzia tells her if they have trays of their own, they can follow the crowd instead of waiting for the crowd to come to them. That way they'll make more money.
The two girls go bone-digging. They join the hordes of other children scrabbling in the churned-up earth

(Jackie from Chicago, IL)

Have you ever opened a book, read the first sentence, wondered: `Now why would an author start off a book like that?' then after finishing the book understood why? Well in the Historical Fiction Novel, The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, that's exactly the case. "I can read that letter as well as Father can," Parvana whispered into the folds of her chador. "Well, almost." Is how Ellis chose to start off the 168, (170 if you count the glossary in the back of the book) page novel, which kept me questioning: `What's a chador?' `What does reading a letter have to do with anything?' `Is reading the theme of this book?' and `What makes Parvana's Father that much better at reading a letter than she is?' Then, as I kept reading on, all my questions were answered. Reading letters was part of how they made a living, chador's are what girls wore for clothing, Parvana's dad was a little better at reading than Parvana because he had an education in England, and no, the theme of the book was not "reading", it was, in my opinion, taking risks. In the story, Parvana and her family have to take lots of risks. For example, Parvana has to take many risks because her family is educated and the Taliban, (a group of dictators overpowering Afghanistan) hates people who are educated because they feel like they can take over them if they have more knowledge. This is one reason why I thought The Breadwinner was a marvelous novel, the suspense and tension in the book kept you wanting to read the book forever until you found the answer to what you were looking for. I also thought this was a pleasant book because of Deborah Ellis' way of writing. For example, she explains every detail so that the word, sentence, paragraph, or whole page is provided with imagery. One more reason why I think this $5.95 book was phenomenal is because you can compare it to other characters or other books. I had a Text-to-Text connection while reading The Breadwinner: Parvana is a lot like Violet Baudelaire (in the Series of Unfortunate Events) because they both do heroic things to save their family because they both have had a family member (or members) taken away from them. A book I would compare The Breadwinner to is Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples because Parvana and Shabanu are both growing up girls and they are both trying to save their family, but growing up is stopping them. Because of some violence, I wouldn't recommend The Breadwinner to children 8 and younger. Instead I would recommend it to people ages 9 and up who like suspense stories about real things that happen in Afghanistan.

I thought this book was very well writen. I gave it five stars because it drops of at the end, But soon I figured out their was a sequil!
Parvana a, a young afgan girl, lives with her sister,mother, father, younger sister and a very young brother. Her dad is taken away by the taliban army, because he has an education (wierd!). Parvana must earn money for her family, but girls aren't alowed to work, so shes turned into a boy. Buy and read the book for complete detale!
Very good!!
~Nick

(Zach-Chicago)Can you imagine living in a country where members of an extreme religious group control your country, and women cannot go outside with something covering their bodies without a man, the punishment of theft is losing a hand, boys dig up bones to make money, and you can't go to school? This is the life of the people in Afghanistan in the book the Breadwinner, by Deborah Ellis, 170 pages. The genre is historical fiction. It costs $7.50. This book shows the struggle of an 11-year old girl named Parvana in Afghanistan who has just lost a father to the Taliban and disguises herself as a boy to make money for her family. This is a story of adventure and peril of a girl who risks her life for her family's needs. It is very violent and graphic. One example of this is when Parvana has just came to a bombed out building and she finds a helpless woman in it and takes her to her house. The woman (or girl), tells Parvana that while she was in Mazzar - e - Sherrif, where she lives, the Taliban came to her house, took her father and brother into the street, and shot them and then the mother started to hit the Taliban and they shot her, too. The girl hid in a closet while the Taliban went to other houses and did the same thing to their families too. This shows how violent the Taliban are. Since there is so much violence and fear and killing in this book, it would probably be suitable or ages nine and up. I think this is a great book because it shows how one girl in a family can save her family and how much courage she had because she had to go out and dress up and act like a boy and do all of these difficult tasks. The readers who might like this book are readers who understand that this is really happening and can take lots of action and change. I think this book is like Shabanu by Suzanne Fischer Staples, about a girl living in India who and has to go through struggles and change, especially with an older sister around, like Parvana. Deborah Ellis has one the Special Commendation Award, as well as the Jane Adams Award. The theme of this book is determination, because Parvana has to be so determined to help.

(Ben from Chicago,F.F.A.C. School)

This book, The Breadwinner, by Deborah Ellis, is recommended to readers ages nine through adult, and for people who like to read historical fiction books about a family's determination for freedom for themselves and their country. This book has 166 pages and costs $5.95 in the United States. It is available at many bookstores. The book takes place in the year 1997 in Afghanistan. Most of the main characters are members of the same family. There is a mother, a father, three sisters (Nooria, age 17, Parvana, 11 and Maryam, 5) and a brother, Ali age 1. The narrator of the story is Parvana. Another main character is Mrs.Weera. "Mrs. Weera is a strong woman and can fix any problems," Parvana often states. Parvana's family lives in a one room apartment on the third floor of a broken down building. They didn't always live this way. Parvana has a memory of when she was younger, "They had a big house, with a court yard, a couple of servants, a television set, a refrigerator and a car." Then bombs hit their house, the family had to move into a smaller house, with less of their many belongings. This happened many times until it left their family of six people in their one room apartment. Parvana was in the sixth grade when the Taliban took over Afghanistan. She and all of the other girls were not allowed to go to school. Any girl, thirteen years or older, needed to cover themselves with a burqa and be escorted by a man, when ever they left their homes. A connection made from the book, The Breadwinner to the book Shabanu, by Susan Fisher, is how the cultures of these two societies have girls inferior to boys.One night, after dinner, Parvana's father, is arrested and taken to prison. Since Parvana's father is the only male old enough who can sell things to make money, or can go to stores to buy food, the family now has a major problem. There were often parts of the story where I would forget the father was even a character in the book. His disappearance from the story was prolonged. I thought that it took too long for Deborah Ellis to let us find out what had happened to the father. I would highly recommend this book because it is realistic fiction and it is written as the main character telling the story. It has good suspense, shows the will and determination of people, and how much a family can endure. When I finished reading The Breadwinner, I thought about what it would be like for a girl like Parvana to come to the United States. She would totally appreciate her freedom and equality. As an American, after reading this book, it helped me appreciate what I have and how lucky I am. The message that Deborah Ellis is trying to send to the reader has to do with endurance and loss. I choose endurance as a theme because the family had to endure so much, whether it was just to get food or to survive without a family member. Another theme is loss because at one time this family was very wealthy. After a few bombs, they had lost so much and ended up with barely enough food to get through a day. No awards have been given to this book that I have found, but I felt this book should qualify for one. I think this book educates people on what is happening in other parts of the world.

Heartwrenching story about a family in Afghanistan, Parvana is 10 years old and her father is sent to prison.Under Taliban law, women and girls are not allowed out without a male escort.Parvana must disguise herself as a boy in order to provide for her family.

This book is a very good book that puts you inside of 11 year old Parvana's shoes. It depicts the horrors of life under the taliban rule well. While it is grusome, the auther shows the horrors without too much detail, so it is safe for younger readers, though i wound not recemend it to anyone younger than 10. You see life in this war torn land from the eyes of a girl worring about her father in jail, while forced to hide her true identity so her family can survive.

In a place far from the United States there's a place called AFGHANISTAN. This story takes place in a town called Kabul when the Taiban ruled .This great book is called The BREADWINNER, by DEBORAH ELLIS. This is a 5 star book! The main point is women are not allowd outside without a man. A father, mother and 4 kids suffer from their homes being bombed. Every time they have to move to a smaller home.(The Taliban kill people a lot.) I recommend this good book.

The Bread Winner

The Bread Winner is a five star book about a girl, named Parvana and her family. This book takes place in Afghanistan. When her father got arrested nobody can get the food. Parvana is the only one who can because everybody else is either to old or to young. Do you think Parvana can keep the family running and not get arrested? I like this book because it was suspenseful and you never knew what would happen next.

Parvana is a young girl living with her family in a bombed apartment building in Afghanistan. Her father is taken away by the Taliban and Parvana is forced to disguise herself as a boy in order to obtain food for her family.

It's a compelling story which allows children who have never experienced war or hunger to see what life in other places can be like.

This story takes place in Afghanistan. It's an amazing book. It's so realalistic that you're imagining it in your head. The main Character is Parvana. She goes on an adventure to find money to buy food and belongings for her family. When you are done reading this book yoou will want to read more and more of the book. Also, It tells you alot about the things they do in Afghanistan. I recommend this book to everyone to read because it's so good!!

this book was my chosen summer reading book.I thought that it was going to be realy bad but it wasn't it ended up realy good.I read it in three days it was so good.The book is about Parvana the 2nd eldest in a family of 6.Her Parents are educated very wellHer mother is an author and her father taught history in a high school.But that was before the Taliban took over Afghanistan and now women are not allowed to go out of their house,So parvana's Father writes and reads letters for the family to make moeny however because of her fathers bad leg she has to go walk with him.until he gets arested.then Parvana has to dress up like a boy and cntinue her father's work until he gets out of prison.Then she meets an old school mate who is a girl and is doing the same thing she is.So they decide to go into buesiness together.The her sister got a letter saying that an old neighbor would like to marry her but the family would have to travel.Parvana has to stay back with a friend.

The Breadwinner is a fun, exciting yet a sad and dark story. It reveals what Afghanistan is really like. The story takes place in Afghanistan from the point of view of an eleven year old girl named Parvana. You follow Parvana throughout the story and learn of good times and bad. Poor Parvana's father is arrested in the beginning of the novel, and she is forced to cut her hair and dress as a boy. Some of us take what we have for granted, but after reading Deborah Ellis's novel "The Breadwinner," you develop a new found respect for Afghans and what they must put up with. Not only is "The Breadwinner" an entertaining book that holds your attention, but it is a message to all of us who don't think twice about Afghans. "The Breadwinner" is the first in the Breadwinner trilogy. I encourage everyone to read this book.

The Breadwinner is a classic bestseller for our age. It ticks the didactic boxes perfectly - it is educational, not only that it is educational about a key humanitarian and religious travesty of the modern world: the fate of Muslim women under the tyrannical, barbaric, Islamo-fascist Taliban. The characters are clear cut: Parvana, the heroic girl who disguises herself as a boy to become the 'breadwinner' for her family; her father - the wise old educated Afghan teacher who is poised as a deliberate foil to all the Taliban have destroyed in Afghanistan; the Taliban themselves - hideous, Medieval, cruel, frightening barbarians (though we never discover why they have become like this).

Come on. From reading the reviews here you would think this was a children's masterpiece up there with Alice in Wonderland or the Hobbit. It is a nice, UN sanctioned type of book, with 2D characters, that could well be deployed to some important groundwork in the classroom by awakening children's awareness to what is going on in Afghanistan. But as a great piece of literature that educates their (and our) minds, hearts and language sensibilities, it falls sadly flat.

I had to read this book for my English class, but I didn't want to in the beginning. It didn't sound very good from the description. I couldn't have been more wrong! I read it in less than a day, and have read it about 3 times since then. It's soooooo good!!!! The only thing I didn't like was the end, because you want to know what happens. I SOOOOO reccommend Parvana's Journey, which is the sequel. It's better than this!

I read The Breadwinner for a multicultural literature course that I am taking during my graduate program. It was one of those page-turning stories that I didn't want to put down once I started. I was so surprised at what I read. I never really realized what was going on in Afghanistan and how many changes the Taliban made when they came into rule. In many parts of the story, I was disturbed - knowing that these horrific things were really happening and people (especially) women were being treated this way. Although some aspects of the book are hard to wrap your head around, I would highly recommend reading this book. It is a captivating, eye opening story to inform ourselves on how people are currently living and being treated in Afghanistan. I look forward to reading the sequels that Deborah Ellis has written!

The Breadwinner written by Deborah Ellis is about a girl named Parvana and her family living during the Taliban rule of Kabul. In 1996 when the Taliban took over the capital things began to change for the citizens there. Many laws were passed about how women could act. Women could not make a sound or talk or step out of the house. Girls couldn't go to school and they couldn't go outside without wearing burqa or without permission. The men could not travel to other countries unless they were given permission from the Taliban government. They also could not raise their voice at a Taliban officer even if they were killing a loved one.

In the beginning of the novel, Parvana is sitting in the Kabul market place. Most of the bombed out city makes it a great place for people to buy and sell items. Except for her father, who reads and writes for money. Any time an officer comes and asks her father why there is a girl in the market place with him, her father points at his leg that had been blown off in one of the bombings and says that she is there to help him get around the market. Eventually the Taliban gets word that Parvana's father can read and write and got his education in London, and so they came to their house to kidnap Parvana's father.

After a few months, the family of five start to run out of food. So one of Parvana's old teachers got an idea to dress Parvana up as a boy since she was not grown up yet. She goes to the market place to read and write letters, just as her father had done for money.
One slow day, she noticed the tea boys running around the market place much more than usual. Then one of the boys crashes into Parvana's blanket, books and items she was selling. While helping the boy gather his things, Parvana realized the boy wasn't a boy at all. She was actually Shauzia, a girl who used to go to Parvana's school. Like Parvana, Shauzia was disguised as a boy to help her family.

As the months drew longer Parvana and Shauzia became better and better friends. Shauzia heard other tea boys talk about how to make more money by digging up human bones. Though it was very disturbing, it would be worth the money they would earn. Every week they would get shovels and dig up bones from the graveyard and sell them to a vendor. It was good money, but they did not like it. Shauzia says she wants to leave Afghanistan and her family forever.

When time came for Parvana's sister Nooria's arranged marriage in another city, Parvana did not want to accompany her mother and sister. She wanted to stay home on the off chance their father returned home. Lo and behold, her father did come home, but he was badly injured. Her old school teacher helped take care of her father, since he was not strong enough to work.

One night when Parvana was returning home from work, she discovered a crying woman in a bombed out building. She brought her home, and Parvana's old teacher helped care for her. Once the woman had eaten and rested, she told them her story. She was from a town the Taliban had just taken over and it was the same town Parvana's mother and sister had traveled to. This terrifies Parvana and her father and they decide to travel to the town to try and save their family. Before they leave, Parvana sees Shauzia one last time and knows she won't see her friend again. So Shauzia has an idea for them to meet twenty years later at the tip top of the Eiffel Tower to swap their life stories.

On a scale of one to five, I feel The Breadwinner was a 3 ½. Although it dealt with important issues in Afghanistan, I didn't feel connected to the characters in any way, shape or form. Also, I thought some parts were poorly written.

This heart touching book shows one of Afghanistan bravest little girls. Parvana goes through the most hardships to get where she was now. It is like she is in a grown-up's body and grown-ups do a lot. She might be one out of a million but she certainly stands out of all of them.

The Breadwinner was a book that, once I started, I couldn't tear myself away from the pages. Ellis' character development of Parvana is so powerful. I felt as if I knew her. There were times when I wanted to hoist her onto my shoulders and praise her and other times when I wanted to scold her for not doing what she needed to be doing, even though she was doing what she thought would be the best, easiest and quickest way to help her family, digging up bones.

When I reached the end of the book, I was left with a desire to hear more about what happens to Parvana and her family. I can't wait to read the sequel! Not only does the reader learn about and develop a relationship with this character, but Ellis teaches the reader a lot of historical facts and cultural information about this area of the world. This book is extremely appropriate to use at this point in time with the way our world is.

Our daughter needed this for school. Library was out of it. It came 2 day shipping as promised (gotta love Prime) and I like the fact that it wasn't a download on the kindle. Very good book per her review (she is 11 yrs. old).

The Breadwinner is an intriguing look into the life of Afghan people. Ellis does an excellent job portraying the hardships they face in everyday life. The storyline is very compelling and holds the readers interest. It has a young protagonist, which young adults will relate to. Ellis develops her characters so well that the reader almost gets the feeling that Parvana's family really exists. There are many different conflicts going on in The Breadwinner that keep the reader interested. Parvana has conflicts within herself, with her family, and the overall life of people in Afghanistan. She is old enough to remember what life was like before the Taliban, so she has some real issues with her current situation. Ellis includes a glossary in the back that gives definitions and descriptions of the Afghan terms used in the story. She has studied and worked in Afghanistan and used her background to help keep the depictions of Afghan life accurate. In addition, although this book was written in 2000, it deals with current events taking place in our world today and therefore would be an excellent way to begin discussions on the topic. The Breadwinner is a great example of realistic contemporary fiction and would be a great multicultural book as well.

I had both the paperback book and the audible version.. It's easier to read than listen to as the accent made it hard to understand at first. Good insight into a different culture. Narrator was excellent in changing to match each character.

Breadwinner is a book of overcoming hardships, perfect for all ages ready to see the wrong in this world. This book is about a young girl in Afghanistan named Parvana. Living in Taliban territory, she must pretend to be a boy to work. Why must she be the one to work? Because her father has been jailed for his education, and she is the only one who can pretend to be a boy to work. Will she persevere and live on to feed her family, or will she be defeated and broken? In this book full of compassion, the only way to find out is to read it!

I just finished this book and I still have questions so i will start readding the next book. I hope that Parvana and het friend meet up in 20 years on the first day of spring on the top of the Eiffel tower. I recommend this book for people who love learning the truth and love hisyory like me!!!!!!

This was a very quick read, and appropriate for younger readers grades 5-7. Although the subject matter is serious and very real, it is presented in a clear succint manner. Kids would relate to it because the main character is a young girl and the book is simply written.

I read this book and found that it was really an interesting read. I was amazed at the similarities and differences between the American culture and the Afghanistan culture (portrayed). I plan on using this book in a sixth grade classroom. I think that the students will have a lot of questions and a lot to discuss about this book. It is a powerful book!

This book is a really good that it could make you feel something. It made me feel sad and some parts ade me cry.One reason you should buy this book because this book is something ture and something that really happen. Also you should buy this book because it gives you complete information. - A.T.

I had to read this book for school. At first, I wasnt very excited, but I realized just by reading the first two chapters that this author knows how to read a great, inspiring book that keeps you turning pages. This is a must read for anybody at all, no matter how old or young you are Parvanna's story will amaze you.

This is an excellent book because it is suspensful, informational, exciting and thought-provoking. A majority of us believe that this book should be read aloud by an adult in order to discuss the sensitive content.

There are many scenes in the story that have a lot of imagery. Especially the part when Parvana is turned into a boy!

This book should be read all over the world because it makes us thankful for what we have in our own lives and also helps to educate us on life in Afghanistan while the Taliban controlled Kabul.

We are excited to read the next 2 books in the series!

The BreadWinner is a fantastic book.It is full of adventure.It's about a little girl,named Parvana,who lives in Afghanistan during a time when girls wern't alowed to go outside without a man to work and get money.But one day her father went away to prison wich meant they had no other boy to go out and get the food and milk they needed. One day they needed food so bad they shaved Parvana's hair off so she could look like a boy and could get the food.This was a new experience for Parvana.Every day she would go out and raise money by selling things and reading and writting letters for the people to get money then she would get the food for the family.If you want find out more about this book I think you should read it.

This story reached out to my heart when I read and excerpt of it in a collection. It is a story that truly paints the picture of what it was like to be a girl living in Afghanistan, and the suffering they and their families had to go through. Truly a book to read.

The breadwinner will touch your heart a day in a life of a child in Afghanistan. Its the best book I've ever read in my life. If I could explain this in one word "amazing" I reccomend it to everybody all ages to read. You'll remember it for the rest of your life!

I thought the book was really good. I was so tempted to read more at the end! I thought the book was really sad when the Taliban took Parvana's father. But, I think it was really thoughtful when the guys were helping her father up the steps.

I highly reccomend this book. I think the content is important and people need to know what happened in Afganistan. However, I am 14 years old and found some parts of the book very disturbing and maybe a parent needs to read the book first and decide if a younger child under 12 is mature enough to read about such a harsh reality.

The "Breadwinner" was seriously an amazing book as you can see. It's about an 11 year old girl named Parvana. Her father was a graduate from a college in England & he was recently arrested by the Taliban because he had a forein education. So now Parvana and her mother have to take care of the house. Which is sort of hard considering they can't go outside. Now Parvana cuts her hair and dresses like a boy, just so she can go to school get an education & provide for her family.But now an even bigger problem than worring about getting caught she is developing women characteristics.Everything is getting out of hand.

The Breadwinner is a book filled with wonderful adventures about how a girl has to save her family from starvation. This girl did many brave things that not just an average girl could do. I think this book is filled with adventures and if you like that it's a great book for you.

I only had time to read it on Fridays and for only a half an hour. They absolutely loved it! The book depicts the life of a young lady in war torn Kabul. The hardships and fears she faces were not fit for a girl her age.I wanted my students to get an understanding of what kids their age are going through in this war. It does not get political, just gives you an understanding from a childs point of view.

A friend reccomended the book to me after he had read it. When I read the back my nose was upturned and I was so not turned on by the sound of it, but he insisted that I read it. I read it and I definately was wrong! I now own my very own copy of it, and it's sequal Parvana's Journey. They are great books about what people on the other side of the war against terrorism are going through! It is very realistic when they tell about their lives and how they are running from the teliban!

I thought the Breadwinner was an excellent story. It takes a confusing subject as war and brings it down to a child's perspective. The story gave beautiful details into Afghanistan's culture. I thought it gave valuable factual information while keeping the reader turning the pages. The author's note and glossary are also very beneficial to yong readers. Overall, I think the Breadwinner is a well written story.

This is a sad but seemingly true story of how one family has learned to survive in a country at war during Taliban control. The story is told from a little girl's perspective. The reader experiences the many trials and tribulations that the main character, Parvana, goes through on a daily basis. May not be a true "historical fiction" but it is an excellent novel and must read!!!

My eight year-old and I read it together so we could pause and talk about the story. We wanted to stop and talk about nearly every character and every plot turn. Although some scenes are graphic, they are not gory. This is a conversation starter suitable for a youth book club or enjoying with a friend. We hope Ms Ellis has a sequel planned.

My child is reading this in 4th grade, and apparently it's on the approved curriculum. I think he is much too young to read about land mines, bombs, death etc in the way this book is written. I would suggest this subject matter is more for 5th/6th grade

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis is an interesting book relating to current issues in Afganistan. The book centers on the changes in the life of a successful Afghan family under the rule of the Taliban. While not neccesarily well-written, it is nonetheless enjoyable from a current issues standpoint. I would reccommend this book for ages 12+ as it contains some violent content.

I got to know a bit what life in Afghanistan was like when the Taliban was in control. The book was ok because I feel like the plot was extremely quick and there wasn't a lot of details. Also I felt like there was little action going on there and a lot of talking. I felt that the book never even reached the climax and there was hardly any rising action. I admit that the author left a very good cliffhanger.

I was in desperate need of a class set of books for my reading classes and was pleased at the quick service I received. My kids loved the book and many have continued on with the series. Now, if only there were a movie based on The Breadwinner.

My soon to be 7th grader was required to read this book over the summer. I have relayed my disappointment about this to the superintendent. I get that it's very important for kids to understand how different life can be for one child versus another depending on where they happen to be born. I think these lessons needs to be done at the right time, and in the right way. I feel that all this book does, on a middle school level, is contribute just to fear and anxiety. That does not serve anyone. Details like dogs eating corpses, or an arm being in a dog's mouth, are, in my opinion, not suitable for middle school. It starts to feel like vicarious violence...so that those children who are fortunate enough not to witness it firsthand, can imagine what it's like through the storytelling. I'm sorry, but I think it's far more desirable to let those children continue to NOT being subjected to violence. My child can be compassionate and informed without being subjected to some of those details at this age. Every kid is different....but I would not recommend this book to anyone in my life.

The Breadwinner is a book I think everyone should read. It is exciting and a little tence. Parvana (the main character) is a girl who has to pretend to be a boy in order to get money and food for her and her family. My teacher read this book outloud to my 4/5 class. The whole class enjoyed it and I think you will too.

I did not feel this book did justice to the current situation in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime.
Although Ms. Ellis seems to have good intentions in writing this book I feel that she failed to deal with the underlying issues of the social problems there and blatantly misrepresented a number of key issues.
For example: on pg. 13 of her book she writes:
"After the Soviets left, the people who had been shooting at the Soviets decided they wanted to keep shooting at something, so they shot at each other..."
This belies the complex dynamics of the situation and is an out right dismissal of the underlying causes for the Taliban to have stepped in and taken over.
Unfortunately Ms. Ellis failed to put the Taliban regime in the context of any larger historical picture. Instead the book is a compilation of various incidents of alleged abuse by the Taliban that serve her political agenda.
In fact the main failure of the book, in my opinion, is the way in which Ms. Ellis portrays the Taliban as cardboard villains with no humanity, no compassion and only brutality to guide them.
The fact that they are religious extremists, who've taken a very stern approach to interpretting Islamic law and jurisprudence is never once dealt with in the scope of the book. In fact Islam is barely mentioned. They are treated as a kind of 'bogeymen'. In fact in one passage on p. 79 and 80 she writes:
"Parvana took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Up until then, she had seen Talibs only as men who beat women and arrested her father. Could they have feelings of sorrow, like other human beings?"
I suppose Ms. Ellis was trying to be gracious in acknowledging that they might be human, but I find the statement only adds insult to injury.
I would think that the character, having grown up in an Islamic atmosphere, would not question the humanity of these people. This seems to be the author interjecting her own bias.
I would argue that the actions of the Taliban that are mentioned in the book are similar in scope to lynchings and KKK brutalities of some of the Southern states and not necessarily sanctioned by the Taliban. Nobody would assume that just because these types of actions occurred down there, and were sometimes covertly sanctioned by the authorities, that all the police force of the South were involved in the crimes and are crooked. This is the type of leap in logic that Ms. Ellis seems to ask of the reader.
Ms. Ellis also fails to mention any good that the Taliban have done, such as stabilizing the region. Afghanistan is a very safe place now. Gone are the rapes and murders immediately following the Soviets' withdrawal.
I also found that the characters of the family showed no Islamic characteristics whatsoever. In fact there is no reference to an Islamic context at all in the entire book. The characters in the story could just as easily be Westerners plunked down in the middle of this exotic setting.
Another problem I had with the book is the incorrect dates given at the back. Ms. Ellis says that the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1980 when in fact they invaded in 1979. Also she states that they left in 1989 when in fact they didn't leave till 1993, at least. (I'm positive of this because I too visited the Afghani refugee camps in Pakistan in 1992 and the Soviets were still in the midst of their battle with the Afghans.)
What Ms. Ellis failed to realize is that by talking to the refugees, who were disgruntled enough to leave Afghanistan, she was not necessarily getting an accurate picture of life inside Afghanistan. Perhaps the refugees had an axe to grind.
And as she states in the book, the Afghans are a fierce tribal people, if they did not agree with the Taliban, you can bet they would rise up and throw off their rule with no compunction whatsoever. So on some level, the Taliban rule is serving a purpose for them.
While I don't doubt that the incidents mentioned, occurred, what I think is misleading is the lack of context.
She also spoke of the fighting in the north as if it wasn't the result of a few rebel leaders trying to carve out territory for themselves. She made it sound as if they were fighting in the interest of the Afghan people rather than their own selfish motives.
It's unfortunate that Ms. Ellis missed the opportunity to delve into some deeper issues in tackling this subject matter and instead chose to write a superficial and obviously biased book that amounts to little more than propaganda.

Hi, I'm only 12, but I thought this book was charming, you learn a lot with it, I really appreciated the book (couldn't put it down), and i recommend it.
Deborah Ellis, did a wonderfull job with this book...it's just great.
MEL :)

I ordered this product and never received an e-mail stating that it was shipped. I had to wait until the estimated delivery period came and went before I could file a claim (approximately 3.5 weeks after I had submitted my order). Within a day of filing the claim, I was notified that I had been refunded. However, it put me in a bad position as I had to rush out to purchase the book from a bookstore at the last moment before school started. When I received the refund notice, there was no explanation of why my order was not filled nor any kind of apology for the inconvenience this caused. I consider this to be poor customer service. I would have rated this vendor with only 1 star; however, because the refund was processed quickly, I rated them with 2. But I will not do business with this vendor again.