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Review by Linda Harmon
"Parvana's Journey" is the
sequel to
"The Breadwinner." The Taliban still control Afghanistan, and
Parvana's hometown of Kabul is in ruins. Her mother, sister and
brother disappeared in the tumult when the Taliban took over
Mazar-e-Sharif at the end of the first story. As the sequel opens,
Parvana is burying her father. His health never recovered from the
injuries he suffered when his school was bombed and his imprisonment
by the Taliban for being educated in another country. The living
conditions of the refugee camps only worsened his condition. Now
13-year-old Parvana is alone and has no idea where to find the rest
of her family. Still disguised as a boy, she sets out to find them.
Early into her journey she
comes across a recently bombed village and finds a baby who appears
to be the only survivor. She takes him with her, and even though he
is an extra burden, he is also a comfort to her. She and the baby,
whom she has named Hassan, take shelter in a cave for the night.
They soon find out that an angry one-legged boy named Asif inhabits
the cave. He is filthy, starving and has the bad cough that Parvana
recognizes from the camps. The three of them stay in the cave for a
while, but the need for food forces them to start traveling again.
The next character to join
their group is an 8-year-old girl named Leila, who lives on the edge
of a minefield with her near-comatose grandmother. She scavenges the
minefields for food and supplies after explosions. She believes that
she is protected from the land mines by the earth. Each time she
eats she puts a small amount of food back into the ground to appease
the earth.
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 The conditions Leila and her
grandmother are living in are terrible, but they do have a house of
sorts. Parvana and Asif decide to stay with them and help them.
Leila has sores on her face and the sores have maggots in them. She
says that she knows she should wash, but she forgets to do it.
Eventually all of the children and the grandmother get healthier.
Just as they begin to have a little peace, the unthinkable happens
again, and their somewhat safe corner of the world is destroyed.
The four children are again on
the move. They were able to salvage very little food from the
wreckage. Near complete starvation, the children join a group of
other starving refugees and end up in a camp. Hassan is near death.
He is taken by a nurse and put in the hospital tent. The other three
children are left to fend for themselves. Weeks go by and it is
getting colder and food is scarce. Parvana hears a man begging
someone to buy his baby so he can feed the rest of his family. She
hears a loud, desperate cry and realizes that it is coming from her
own mouth. When it seems that things cannot get worse, they do, but
what happens next gives Parvana the hope to go on.
This
book offers a horribly realistic picture of war and the effect it
has on innocent people, especially children. Deborah Ellis traveled
to Pakistan to interview Afghan women in refugee camps. She compiled
these stories for her book of oral histories, "Women of the Afghan
War." The children she met in the camps and the stories she heard
were also the inspiration for "The Breadwinner" and "Parvana's
Journey." All royalties from the sale of these books go to Women for
Women, an organization that helps women in Afghanistan. This book is
recommended for ages 10 and up.
[Linda Harmon,
Lincoln
Public Library District]
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