The Breadwinner (The Breadwinner collection)

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Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). Masquerading as a boy, Parvana takes on great responsibilities -- but she also feels a sense of freedom. Have you ever felt that way? Father: Parvana's dad, and a former teacher. He's intelligent and foreign-educated, which leads to his arrest. Parvana takes courage from his stories. Ellis (the Breadwinner Trilogy) throws readers into the harrowing experience of migrant teens escaping from different horrors in various corners of the world. Fifteen-year-old Abdul leaves war-torn Continue reading »Hossain was Parvana's 14-year-old deceased older brother who died after stepping on a landmine. Parvana was only a toddler when he died and has no memory of him. During a 2011 visit to Kabul, Ellis (the Breadwinner trilogy) recorded the stories of 27 Afghan children, represented in this stirring collection. While some are from prosperous families, others live Continue reading » That was where she needed to be, in a field of purple flowers, where no one could bother her. She would sit there until the confusion left her head and the stink of the camp left her nostrils.

Mrs. Weera is a women's rights activist and former gym teacher who is a friend of Parvana's family and is a welcome presence in the household. She believes that people have a responsibility to care for their families, even if it means sacrifices must be made. Parvana knew she had to fetch the water because there was nobody else in the family who could do it. Sometimes this made her resentful. Sometimes it made her proud.'' Spring turns to summer. The market ceases to interest Parvana, though the tribal people who sell fruit share their stories, which Parvana then shares them her family. Mother and Mrs. Weera start a school for girls. Nooria teaches, but it’s hard with limited time and resources. The Window Woman continues to drop gifts, but one day, Parvana hears the woman’s husband beating her. She plans to tell her family, but Mother announces that Nooria is getting married. Later, Nooria tells Parvana that this is a great opportunity—her new in-laws will send her to university, and the Taliban doesn’t control Mazar-e-Sharif, where her future husband lives. Mother decides that they’ll all go to Mazar for the wedding, but Parvana refuses. She’s afraid that Father will get out of prison and no one will be home. Incensed, Mother decides to leave Parvana. Families can talk about why the Taliban restricts women's education and movement, as described in The Breadwinner. Why would a ruling power do this? Who benefits from this arrangement?One day a group of Taliban soldiers breaks into Parvana's house to arrest her father for having a foreign education. Parvana and her mother go to the prison to beg for his freedom, and they are beaten by the guards and told to leave. Because women are not allowed out of the house without a related male, the family is left without a source of income. In the third book in the Breadwinner trilogy (The Breadwinner; Parvana's Journey), Mud City by Deborah Ellis, Afghani refugee 14-year-old Shauzia (Parvana's best friend) leaves the mud-walled Continue reading »