Awards & Nominations
Shortlisted for the IODE Violet Downey Book Award and the Manitoba Young Readers' Choice Award, selected for the USBBY Outstanding International Book List, the CCBC Choices List, the Bank Street College of Education's Book of the Month, the Bankstreet College Best Children’s Books of the Year 2013, and the Capitol Choices Noteworthy Titles for Children and Teens List
Summary
In post-Taliban Afghanistan, American soldiers have just imprisoned a teenaged girl. But who is she? Why was she found wandering alone in a bombed out school? Could she be a terrorist?
The girl is held on an American military base and interrogated. yet she does not respond to questions in any language and remains silent, even when she is threatened, harassed, and mistreated over several days. The only clue to her identity is a tattered shoulder bag containing papers that refer to people name Shauzia, Nooria, Leila, Asif, Hassan - and Parvana.
In this long-awaited sequel to The Breadwinner, Parvana, now fifteen, waits for foreign military forces to determine her fate as she remembers the past four years of her life. Reunited with her mother and sisters, she has been living in a village where her mother has finally managed to open a school for girls. It's the life Parvana has been dreaming of.
But this is Afghanistan, the war is far from over, and many continue to view the education and freedom of girls and women with suspicion and fear.
And that means Parvana - and her family- are in danger.
Summary taken from book jacket on My Name is Parvana novel.
Photo source: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13584773-my-name-is-parvana
The girl is held on an American military base and interrogated. yet she does not respond to questions in any language and remains silent, even when she is threatened, harassed, and mistreated over several days. The only clue to her identity is a tattered shoulder bag containing papers that refer to people name Shauzia, Nooria, Leila, Asif, Hassan - and Parvana.
In this long-awaited sequel to The Breadwinner, Parvana, now fifteen, waits for foreign military forces to determine her fate as she remembers the past four years of her life. Reunited with her mother and sisters, she has been living in a village where her mother has finally managed to open a school for girls. It's the life Parvana has been dreaming of.
But this is Afghanistan, the war is far from over, and many continue to view the education and freedom of girls and women with suspicion and fear.
And that means Parvana - and her family- are in danger.
Summary taken from book jacket on My Name is Parvana novel.
Photo source: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13584773-my-name-is-parvana
About the Author: Deborah Ellis
Deborah's Works Include:
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Deborah Ellis is an award-winning Canadian novelist, feminist and passionate activist for those who have been disenfranchised. Many of her books focus on the trials children around the world face during times of political unrest, war, or organizations that promote inequality between the sexes. Her research and works of fiction and non-fiction try to promote peace and understanding and she is well known for donating her profits to organizations that support those people she advocates for through her writing. In regards to Parvana and the Breadwinner series, Ellis has donated more than one million dollars in royalties earned from the series to UNICEF and the Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan. Her website mentions that her inspiration for the Breadwinner series came when she met a young girl in a refugee camp in Afghanistan who had cut her hair and disguised herself as a boy in order to provide for her family. The girl's story impacted Ellis so much that she wrote Parvana's character around the story. Ellis had wanted to become involved in protecting the rights of girls and women after reading about their mistreatment during the Taliban occupation of Afghanistan.
Her combined works have earned her numerous awards including the Governor General’s Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award. Source for photo and info: http://deborahellis.com/ Click the button below to access her website!
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About the Breadwinner Series
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 wihtout 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 Breadwinner is a novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances. A map, glossary and author's note provide young readers with background and context. All royalties from the sale of this book will go to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. Source: http://www.amazon.ca/The-breadwinner-Deborah-Ellis/dp/0888994168 |
A war is raging in Afghanistan as a coalition of Western forces tries to oust the Taliban by bombing the country. Parvana's father has died, and her mother, sister and brother have gone to a faraway wedding, not knowing what has happened to the father. Parvana doesn't know where they are. She just knows she has to find them.
She sets out alone, masquerading as a boy, her journey becoming more perilous as the bombs begin to fall. Making her way across the desolate Afghan countryside, she meets other children who are strays from the war. The children travel together because it is easier than being alone. And, as they forge their own family in the war zone that Afghanistan has become, their resilience, imagination and luck help them to survive. A map, glossary and author's note provide young readers with background and context. Royalties from the sale of this book will go to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. Source: http://www.amazon.ca/Parvanas-Journey-Deborah-Ellis/dp/0888995199 |
Parvana's best friend, fourteen-year-old Shauzia, has escaped the misery of her life in Kabul, only to end up in a refugee camp in Pakistan. Shauzia finally decides to leave the camp and try her luck on the streets. She is determined to earn money to buy her passage out of the country. An incident with a dishonest man lands her in jail, where she spends the night, terrified and despairing, before well-meaning Americans she met when she was begging rescue her. They take her to their home in a residential part of Peshawar, and for a time she has a taste of a life where children have food to eat and warm beds and toys to play with, and she feels safe for the first time. But just when she thinks the family will ask her to stay with them, disaster ensues, and Shauzia finds herself driven back to the refugee camp, where she discovers the old choices are not so easy any more.
This is a powerful and very human story of a feisty, driven girl who tries to take control of her own life. A map, glossary and author's note provide young readers with background and context. Royalties from the sale of this book will go to Street Kids International. Source: http://www.amazon.ca/Mud-City-Deborah-Ellis/dp/0888995423 |