Title: Parvana’s Journey
Author: Deborah Ellis
Publish Date: August 2003
Publisher: Groundwood Books
Pages: 199pp
IBSN: 0888995199
Classification: Fiction
Genre: Historical Fiction
Annotation: Parvana is a thirteen-year-old girl disguising herself as a boy in the Tabliban-era in Afghanistan. She sets off from Kabul in search of her missing mother, brother and sister and collects new “family” members, who have all suffered from the war.
Plot Summary: The sequel of The Breadwinner opens with the burial of Parvana’s father and her search for her mother, brother and sister. Parvana, who continues to dress up like a boy, sets out on a journey to locate her missing family members. On this journey, she meets other victims of war whom are around her age. Together, they travel and become each others family, through hunger and sickness. They end up in a camp of refugees and though do not get a happy ending, there remains hope. Mud City is the final installment to this trilogy.
Personal Response: I was so impressed with The Breadwinner, I had to read the sequel and will probably continue the journey with Mud City. Parvana’s Journey continues the theme or glimpse of women’s rights in Afghanistan under the Taliban rule. The story in engaging and at times extremely sad. A great series to open discussions about the affects war has on children and the rights Deborah Ellis is donating a portion of the book price to Women for Women, an organization that supports Afghan women.
http://www.womenforwomen.org/
~Reader’s Advisory~
Themes: Children who have to be braver then they are suppose to be.
Age Range: 10 and up
Subjects: War, Bravery, Afghanistan, Taliban, Survival, Historical Fiction, Independence, Poverty, Family, Government, Culture, Women’s Rights, Children,
Series: Afghan Trilogy
The Breadwinner (2001)
Parvana’s Journey (2003)
Mud City (2004)
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