In the time when the Taliban is reigning over Afghanistan, one family must do the unthinkable to survive. After Parvana’s father is arrested and there is no other male in the family to escort the women, Parvana must disguise as a boy in order to support her family. During these times, women were not permitted to be outside alone unless accompanied by a man. They also were not allowed to work and had to have their faces covered at all times. Women were not to be seen or heard. As Parvana works in the market reading and writing letters she comes across a girl from her class. What was she doing? Selling tea as a boy, just like Parvana. Together they make a plan to make more money for their families. Parvana and Shauzia work many jobs until they can afford trays to sell trinkets and cigarettes from. Pravana misses her father immensely during this time, the whole family is suffering from his arrest. Pravana’s older sister receives a letter in the mail from a potential husband. Nooria, Pravana’s older sister, gladly accepts the new life offer. In preparation for the wedding, the family, minus Pravana, travels to northern Afghanistan. The Taliban have not taken over there yet. One night, as Pravana is coming home from selling her trinkets, she sees two men helping her father up the stairs to their one room apartment. Parvana cannot believe what she is seeing. Her father is home! Her family will be reunited soon, or so she thought. New has come that the town the rest of her family is in has been taken over by the Taliban. Pravana and her father must travel to find her mother and the rest of her siblings. The book ends with Pravana and her father leaving Kabul to reunite with the rest of the family. quick one day read if you have the time

Standards Related:

ELAGSE5RI3: Explain the relationships or interactions between two or more individuals, events, ideas, or concepts in a historical, scientific, or technical text based on specific information in the text.

ELAGSE4SL4: Report on a topic or text, tell a story, or recount an experience in an organized manner, using appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details to support main ideas or themes; speak clearly at an understandable pace.

ELAGSE5RL6: Describe how a narrator’s or speaker’s point of view influences how events are described.

ELAGSE5RL7: Analyze how visual and multimedia elements contribute to the meaning, tone, or beauty of a text (e.g., graphic novel, multimedia presentation of fiction, folktale, myth, poem).

Memoir