Ellis, Deborah, 2000. The Breadwinner. Toronto: A Groundwood Book, Douglas & McIntyre. ISBN 9780888994196.
Cover illustration by Pascal Milelli.
This is the modern story of an eleven year-old girl in Afghanistan, a country in central Asia, ruled by the powerful and severely restrictive Taliban. Parvana's parents are university educated people, and were once successful with comfortable living conditions and salaries from good jobs, but due to constant war for over twenty years, and the current harsh government, the family is now living in a one-room apartment, and desperately struggling for survival. Girls are no longer allowed to go to school, or to even leave home, so Parvana and her sisters, her mother, and her baby brother are very isolated. When her father is wrongfully arrested, Parvana must change her appearance to become a boy, so that she can go out into the city and find ways to make money to feed her family.
It is a story of courage and determination coming from a world situation that many young American kids are not fully aware. This book was simplistic at times in the dialogue and explanations of the critical issues in the country of Afghanistan, such as the part that Islam plays there, but overall, I feel like it is a very good story. I personally was intrigued by the living conditions in that war-weary part of the world, as well as the family relationships and culture. It was interesting to be able to use this book as a "window" to see into the lives and struggles of people in this ravaged country, and what it takes to survive and stay together as a family.
I was able to both read a hard-copy of the book, and listen to the audio at the same time, because I wanted to hear the "accent" in the story, and the proper pronunciation of the foreign vocabulary words like "salwar kameez" (a shirt and trouser set of clothing worn by both men and women), and "nan" (Afghan flat bread). I liked the female characters in the story, and I did feel their struggles about being so repressed in their society. At one time these women and girls were educated and allowed to walk freely up and down the streets, and to enter shops, and go to movies. All of that has been taken away, and it is very stressful. Women have no rights in this book, and can be physically beaten for any reason. It is tragic, and I felt great sympathy as Parvana had to transform her appearance into a boy, just so she could walk into the market to purchase food. There were also discussions about Parvana's mother and other women secretly writing a magazine, just to get their stories out to the rest of the world, so that everyone could know what is taking place in Afghanistan.
There are several bits of information in the story about Afghanistan once being a rich and beautiful country that many people around the world admired. It mentioned the once beautiful buildings around the country, their "cities of lights," their many university educated men and women, and the rich and fertile farmlands throughout the country, etc. Due to the constant war conditions, much of this is gone, but these are some details that we as Americans may not be so familiar with, and also kids reading this book will notice that the family unit of mom, dad, and children is just as important there as it is to us. The family members love each other, with the siblings arguing among each other. This all feels familiar.
I don't think that the majority of American school kids have read books like this, and even though this book has some flaws, I believe that it is an important addition to a library, to stimulate thinking and conversation, and to consider what America's part is in this current situation, as we work to eliminate the Taliban from that part of the world.
One way to use this book with a group of students would be to share something with them about the war in Afghanistan. It could be a news story, photo, or video. This could be used as an introduction about what our American soldiers are fighting for. Students may have a family memeber, friend, or acquaintance who have been fighting or working in Afghanistan, and that is a beginning to the discussion introducing this book. When kids realize and dwell on the fact that there are real people, just like us, living and working in those war conditions on a daily basis, they will find out from the book that there are indeed many similarities between us and the Afghans. The book could be read aloud to the class by the teacher or librarian, or listened to from the audio recording, stimulating a rich conversation about things we hear in in the news, but that we never before connected to ourselves.
School Library Journal - The strength of the book is that listeners will related to Parvana and imagine what life would be like under a repressive regime. Deborah Ellis reads the afterword, which provides a cursory summary of Afghanistan's recent history. There are some factual errors (e.g., the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, not 1980). Also, the book never mentions Islam. Despite these flaws, THE BREADWINNER features a brave heroine in troubled times and offers a sense of hope.
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