The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

Ellis, Deborah. The Breadwinner. Groundwood Books: 2001. ISBN: 0888994168

Plot

A year and a half after the Taliban overtakes Afghanistan, eleven year old Parvana and her family are living in a one room apartment. Parvana lives in a world where women and girls are not allowed to leave their homes without a male escort, they can not attend school, or hold a job. After Parvana’s father is arrested for having a foreign education, the family is left in a dangerous situation. Since her mother and older sister are not allowed to work and her younger siblings are too small, the family decides to transform Parvana into a boy so she can earn money to feed the family. Parvana uses the clothes of her dead brother and cuts her hair to pass as a boy. Parvana at first is afraid but realizes that no one questions whether she is a boy or girl but still lives with a little fear. Parvana discovers that another girl, who was her classmate, is also doing the same thing as she. They must dress like boys to support their families and will do whatever it take to not let their family down or starve.

Critical Evaluation

This story captures the reality of war through a child, and shows the reader how life is for those who are not or even know about the situations that other children face. Ellis exposes a younger audience to a world that is not known much about. A world in which people live in fear of being killed or starving ever day because of tyranny. A place where being cultured or intelligent is looked as a threat and leads to arrest. Ellis words are very will written for a young audience to understand Parvana and her families struggle.

Reader's Annotation

Parvana, is an eleven-year-old girl, when the Taliban gains control over Afghanistan where she is forbidden to attend school and risks beating by soldiers whenever she ventures outside of her home. When her father is arrested, Parvan wears her dead brothers clothing and becomes a boy in the outside world to save her family from starvation.

Information about the Author

The idea of The Breadwinner came out of Ellis's visits in 1999 to Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, where she was inerviewing women for an adult nonfiction titles Women of the Afghan War. During one of these conversations, she met a women whose daughter was masquerading as a boy to earn a living for her family.

Genre

Realistic Fiction

Curriculum Ties

History

Booktalking Ideas

1) Discuss the Taliban takeover in Afghan

2) Quote from book when Parvana enters the outside world dressed as a boy

Reading Level/Interest Age

Gr 5 - 8

Challenge Issues and Defense

Has some violent scenes.

Ellis believes depicting the violence is sometimes necessary to illuminate the lives of children in other parts of the world.

Why included in selection?

The librarian that I volunteer for recommended this title for me.