The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

"All girls [should read] The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis." -- Malala Yousafzai, New York Times

Over one million copies sold!

The first book in Deborah Ellis's riveting Breadwinner series is an award-winning novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombed-out apartment building in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital city. 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 for the family grow desperate, only one solution emerges. Forbidden to earn money as a girl, Parvana must transform herself into a boy, and become the breadwinner.

The fifteenth anniversary edition includes a special foreword by Deborah Ellis as well as a new map, an updated author's note and a glossary to provide young readers with background and context. All royalties from the sale of this book will go to Right to Learn Afghanistan. Parvana's Fund supports education projects for Afghan women and children.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.5.3
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).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.6.3
Describe how a particular story's or drama's plot unfolds in a series of episodes as well as how the characters respond or change as the plot moves toward a resolution.

Deborah Ellis is best known for her Breadwinner series of novels, which have been translated into 25 languages and have generated over $1 million in royalties for charities such as Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan and Street Kids International. She has received numerous awards, including the Governor General's Award, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Swedish Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award, and the Vicky Metcalf Award for a Body of Work. She was recently appointed to the Order of Ontario and won the President's Award for Outstanding Achievement from the Ontario Library Association. Simcoe, Ontario is her home.