The Breadwinner 2: Parvanas Journey by: Deborah Ellis

 

When I was 12 years old in 7th grade, I remember reading this book called: The Breadwinner which was a book that took place in Afghanistan. The plot of the original book was that a young girl named Parvana struggled to get food for her family as her father got arrested. the government of Afghanistan, the Taliban forbade women from leaving their houses. This meant that she had to disguise herself as a boy, which benefited her family well, she later on met another girl who disguised as a boy named Shauzia. They became friends and made a vow that 20 years from now (the story takes place in 2001) they would meet in Paris, France. This book was one of the most memorable books that I remember reading when I was younger which impacted me. So after 2 years, I was scrolling for books to read and I came across Breadwinner 2. When I read it, I was actually pretty invested in the story, the story is basically that Parvana ends up by herself in the Afghan countryside and as she's traveling, she meets new people such as an abandoned baby she named Hassan and a young boy named Asif who has one leg and quite rude. Then she meets a 9 year old girl named Leila who lived with here psychologically ill mother in a house full of rotting carcasses (I'm not kidding). I was really interested on what was going on and I really wanted the characters to live through due to the harsh bombings that went on in Afghanistan. This book left me interested in what was going to happen next and I was deeply saddened by some of the deaths that occured.

                                                                                                              -Elliot