The Breadwinner

Emmeline’s teacher was reading her class The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis, so Emmeline recommended it to me. I  read it and then also read the three sequels—Parvana’s Journey, Mud City, and My Name is Parvana. Because I’m playing catchup on the blog, I won’t write separate posts for each book but just kind of group them all here. The Breadwinner is about 11-year-old Parvana who lives in Kabul, Afghanistan with her family. War and Taliban rule has taken away many things from her family, and when Parvana’s dad gets arrested for having a foreign education, they are left with only one option—Parvana dressing as a boy and becoming the breadwinner.

This was a great book and series. Especially as the series goes on, it has some pretty heavy, sad stuff, and it’s just so heartbreaking what children have to go through in these war-torn countries. I think it’s great Emmeline’s teacher is reading The Breadwinner with the class, but I told Emmeline I thought the rest of the books were a little much for her. (She doesn’t handle death well, and there are some hard deaths.) The books were engaging stories, and I always wanted to keep reading the next book. I also think it was really meaningful to learn about how children and families live in war-ridden countries and refugee camps and to remember how blessed we are to have the lives we have in America. It reminded me to seek out opportunities to help those less fortunate.

Rating: * * (2/3 = Liked it)