Parvana by Deborah Ellis

Hi, I just finished this book and loved it!

Parvana is an 11 year old girl from Kabul, Afghanistan. Her father and mother are well educated, but her father is the only one who has the right to work for the family. When Parvan’s father gets taken by the Taliban because he went to University in England, Parvana goes to the Market Place to earn money, but gets caught so she cuts her hair and dresses as a boy to earn money for the family.

Parvana meets a friend from primary school who is in a similar situation to her, they become very close friends and go through a lot of terrible situations together. Parvana’s old PE teacher comes to stay with her to take care of the family, but then Parvana’s sister announces she will go to Marzar-e-Sharaf to marry a boy and takes her mother and sister with her. Parvana stays to continue her work with her friend who is talking about getting out of Kabul. On her way home from work Parvana notices her father being helped to the door step by two stranges as the Taliban have taken his leg. Parvana and the PE teacher nurse him back to health. The story ends when Parvana and her father board a truck to begin their search for the rest of their family.

This is an excellent book for children to study refugees and issue in society. It is relatively easy to read with the opportunity to advance children’s literacy skills. The chapters a short and is not a really long book, but many thing happen to Parvana to keep the children interested and there is an excellent website to encourage critical thinking.

This book is also called ‘The Bread Winner’, Click on the link below and go to “A Study Guide - Chapter by Chapter Questions” It is a complete English Unit for this text, which will help identify the students comprehension of the text.

http://www.woostersch.org/breadwinner/breadwinner.html


Heather