Imagine living in a country in which women and girls are not allowed to leave the house without a man. Imagine having to wear clothes that cover every part of your body, including your face, whenever you go out.
In this powerful and realistic tale, eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city during the Taliban rule. 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 without someone who can earn money or even shop for food. As conditions in the family grow desperate, only one solution emerges. Forbidden by the Taliban government to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy and become the breadwinner.
Reviews
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Set in Afghanistan, this book paints a bleak picture of life under Taliban rule. Rita Wolf creates a lively, engaging young Parvana, through whose eyes we witness Taliban oppression. Parvana's mother and sister are trapped at home, forbidden to leave unless chaperoned and swathed in the ubiquitous burqa. (Ellis defines such terms.) Although Wolf's accent may seem simulated to an Afghan ear, most Western listeners are unlikely to mind. Based on real-life interviews with children, this timely story of courage in extreme circumstances is sobering and chilling (Parvana unearths human bones for money, witnesses an amputation, and suffers a beating) and is best-suited for older children--ideally those listening with an adult. J.C.G. Winner of 2004 ALA/ YALSA Recording (c) AudioFile 2003, Portland, Maine
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