"All girls [should read] The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis." --
Malala Yousafzai, New York Times
The first book in Deborah Ellis's riveting Breadwinner series is an
award-winning novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship
under extraordinary circumstances during the Taliban's rule in
Afghanistan in the late 1990s.
Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a
bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city.
Parvana's father -- a history teacher until his school was bombed and
his health destroyed -- works from a blanket on the ground in the
marketplace, reading letters for people who cannot read or write. One
day, he is arrested for the crime of having a foreign education, and the
family is left without someone who can earn money or even shop for food.
As conditions for the family grow desperate, only one solution emerges.
Forbidden to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a
boy, and become the breadwinner.
The fifteenth anniversary edition includes a special foreword by Deborah
Ellis as well as a new map, an updated author's note and a glossary to
provide young readers with background and context. All royalties from
the sale of this book will go to Canadian Women for Women in
Afghanistan. Parvana's Fund supports education projects for Afghan women
and children.
Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language
Arts:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a
story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how
characters interact).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of
episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot
moves toward a resolution.
