• Age: 10 to 14
• Grade: 5 to 8

See below for English description.

Adaptée pour la première fois en bande dessinée, Parvana: Une enfance en Afghanistan, un roman primé portant sur la loyauté, la survie, la famille et l'amitié dans des circonstances extraordinaires durant le règne des talibans.

Âgée de onze ans, Parvana vit avec sa famille dans un édifice bombardé à Kaboul, la capitale du pays. Son père, professeur d'histoire avant que les bombes ne fassent exploser l'école et ne détruisent sa santé, travaille sur une couverture posée à même le sol au marché, où il lit des lettres pour ceux qui ne savent ni lire ni écrire. Un jour, il est arrêté pour être en possession de livres interdits, et sa famille se retrouve sans le sou.

Les conditions se détériorent pour la famille, et une seule solution s'impose. Alors qu'il lui est interdit de gagner de l'argent en tant que fille, Parvana décide de se déguiser en garçon…

A special edition of Parvana : Une enfance en Afghanistan, an awardwinning novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances during the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan.

Eleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a bombedout 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 book includes a map, author's note and a glossary to provide young readers with background and context. An eight-page colour insert features stills from the movie.

Original title: The Breadwinner: A Graphic Novel

Deborah Ellis is the internationally acclaimed author of more than twenty books for children, including The Breadwinner Trilogy; The Heaven Shop; Lunch With Lenin; Children of War: Voices of Iraqi Refugees; and Our Stories, Our Songs: African Children Talk About AIDS. She has won many national and international awards for her books, including the Governor General’s Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize, the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award, and the Children’s Africana Book Award Honor Book for Older Readers.Deborah knew she wanted to be a writer at the age of 11 or 12. Growing up in Paris, Ontario, she loved reading about big cities like New York. In high school, Deborah joined the Peace Movement, playing anti-Nuclear War movies at her school. Since then Deborah has become a peace activist, humanitarian and philanthropist, donating almost all of the royalties from her books to communities in need in Asia and Africa. Heavily involved with Women for Women in Afghanistan, Deborah has helped build women’s centers and schools, giving children education and finding work for women.In 2006, Deborah was named to the Order of Ontario. She now lives in Simcoe, Ontario.

Deborah Ellis' profile page