"The Breadwinner"

Title: "The Breadwinner"
Author: Deborah Ellis
Illustrator: Pascal Milelli
Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2000
Genre: multicultural novel
Grade: 4-5

Parvana, who is an eleven year old Afghan girl, lives in Afghanistan which has recently been taken over by the Taliban. Females are not allowed to go out of the house without a male escort or a piece of paper giving them permission from a male to be out. It was so bad in Afghanistan that they didn't believe that girls should receive an education, so Parvana and her sisters had to drop out of school. One day the Taliban came to the house and arrested their father. Parvana and her Mother go the next day to find out something about Parvana's father, but they won't tell them anything. Mrs. Weera and Mother decide that Parvana should cut her hair and dress like a boy and work at the market to make some money for the family to eat on. Eventually Mrs. Weera ends up moving in to the house with Parvana's family. Nooria, Parvana's older sister, becomes engaged so the family leaves for Mazar and leaves Parvana with Mrs. Weera. Parvana begins to worry when she gets word that Mazar has been taken by the Taliban. Father is released from prison and Father and Parvana go to the refugee camps to try to find Mother, Nooria, Maryam, and Ali.

I liked this book. It was slow moving in the beginning but once I got into it, it became a book I could not put down. I had no idea that this is how it is over in Afghanistan. I could not imagine not being able to go out whenever I wanted because I didn't have a male escort. I also couldn't believe that the Taliban did not want any Afghan girls getting an education. I really thought Ellis did a great job describing what was going on in Afghanistan. I also thought that the scene where Ellis describes the soccer game, however it is not a real soccer game but rather a place where the Taliban soldiers took prisoners to and cut off their hands.

I would use this book in my classroom one day in a multicultural unit or in an Afghanistan/ War in Iraq unit. I would have the students to read the book and keep a journal of what they read and how they feel about what they read in each chapter. We could also do a venn diagram or something to compare the way the Afghan male treatment compares to the treatment of Afghan females.