Parvana's Journey by Deborah EllisReading level: grades 7-10
In her sequel to The Breadwinner, Deborah Ellis spares us none of the horrors of war and shows us what is still all too current life in Afghanistan. She has the reader questioning along with the characters why anyone would treat children this way. Determined Parvana is walking through Afghanistan searching for her family. She doesn't know where they are and she doesn't even know where she is, but she stays true to her quest. Along the way she faces starvation, the dangers of a war torn country, and collects other children. She finds baby Hassan near his dead mother, Leila who lives in a mine field and believes she lives a charmed life because the exploding mines provide her with food, and sullen and difficult Asif who has lost his leg to the war and continually makes Parvana question her decisions, ability, and purpose on her journey. The reader will be drawn into the struggles of the children as well as shocked by what they have to do to survive.
