The Breadwinner

The Breadwinner — page 3 — older generation and work toward building a world of radical kindness and beauty In today’s warfare ninety-five percent of the casualties are civilians This means that when we give our governments permission to go to war we are giving them permission to kill people who are just like us who complain about the weather love their children and wonder what to have for dinner People who have done us no harm Books can help us remember what we have in common as humans That’s what I try to do with mine In this fifteenth anniversary edition of The Breadwinner I would like to thank all the readers who have embraced Parvana and her companions who have followed her journey with compassion as though she were a close friend I thank all the teachers librarians and parents who have introduced the book to the readers in their care And I thank most deeply the people of Afghanistan They deserve like we all deserve to live in peace forever Deborah Ellis 2015

The Breadwinner — page 4 — KAZAKHSTAN UZBE TURKMENISTAN KYRGYZSTAN CHINA TAJIKISTAN WAKHAN CORRIDOR Mazar e Sharif Kunduz Jammu Kashmir Kabul Jalalabad NIS TAN IRAN o Kandahar REGISTAN DESERT A KIS TAN as a Gulf of Oman IN ND OMAN AFGHANISTAN Europe North America Atika South Australia Antarctica

The Breadwinner — page 5 — ONE I can read that letter as well as father can whispered Parvana into the folds of her chador Well almost She didn’t dare say those words out loud The man sitting beside her father would not want to hear her voice Nor would anyone else in the Kabul market Parvana was there only to help her father walk to the market and back home again after work She sat well back on the blanket her head and most of her face covered by her chador She wasn’t really supposed to be outside at all The Taliban had ordered all the girls and women in Afghanistan to stay inside their homes They even forbade girls to go to school Parvana had had to leave her sixth grade class and her sister Nooria was not allowed to go to her high school Their mother had been kicked out of her job as a writer for a Kabul radio station For more than a year now they had all been stuck inside one room along with five-year-old

The Breadwinner — page 6 — Parvana did get out for a few hours most days to help her father walk She was always glad to go outside even though it meant sitting for hours on a blanket spread over the hard ground of the marketplace At least it was something to do She had even got used to holding her tongue and hiding her face She was small for her eleven years As a small girl she could usually get away with being outside without being questioned Maryam and two-year-old Ali I need this girl to help me walk her father would tell any Talib who asked pointing to his leg He had lost the lower part of his leg when the high school he was teaching in was bombed His insides had been hurt somehow too He was often tired I have no son at home except for an infant he would explain Parvana would slump down further on the blanket and try to make herself look smaller She was afraid to look up at the soldiers She had seen what they did especially to women the way they would whip and beat someone they thought should be punished Sitting in the marketplace day after day she had seen a lot When the Taliban were around what she wanted most of all was to be invisible

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