The Bread Winner was a very good book, it talks about a life of a girl in Afghanistan and what she had to do for her and her family to survive. Her dad gets arrested but comes back after, the story is touching, the details are descriptive.
At the end Parvana says a final goodbye to the town she used to live in and find another life with her family once reunited again, Parvana and her friend say their goodbyes and say that they will meet in 20 years in Paris.
I think the story should be recommend for other students because the story talks about what is happening now and how a child life is and how everyone should appreciate their life. The book was enjoyable and I had a great time reading it.
The last chapter, the last chapter was about Parvana treating her dad; her dad was beaten up, skinny and pale. But he did recover after Parvana saved up to buy him medicine, one day they heard that the Tablians left the town that her mother was in and that they were in a refugee camp. Mrs Weera said everyone should go because her niece was there and so was her family.
Parvana’s friend Shauzia was about to get married, she wanted to escape the town as soon as possible Parvana thought it was a good idea for her to go to the camp with Parvana but Mrs Weera said she had a family to support. When Parvana left her stand one last time the house next door dropped another present, Parvana thought flowers were a good good-bye gift to the lady inside the house.
When Parvana fled to the camp, Shauzia came up and said that Shepherds had accepted her to help her watch their feet; they said that they would meet in the Eiffel Tower in 20 years. Parvana thought what would happen in those 20 years, she was very excited.
On chapter 14 Parvana find the real identity of the girl she met at the building, the girl’s family was killed and she was the only survivor. She was very depressed and wanted her family back; Mrs Weera decided that she would stay with Parvana and her family. One day when Parvana didn’t go back to work her friend Shauzia asked her to go back to work. One day Parvana was going home from work and she found some men carrying her dad home.
Parvana found out about her sister getting married in the last chapter; Parvana asked Nooria if she knew the man and they were neighbours for a period of time. They would move to the Northern part of Afghanistan because there are no Taliban soldiers, her family would be back in October but she didn’t want to go because her father might come back home soon and she wanted to meet him again.
Parvana’s mother would insist her to go with them to the wedding but she wanted to stay, after a while her mother told her to stay home so Mrs. Weera and her grandchild would watch over her. One day it was raining and Parvana hide in a bombed building she fell asleep and woke up thinking it was still night time while she heard someone crying.
Today we learnt about coltan, coltan is a black mineral that is used for our electronics. We read about a mineral article and it talks about how conflict minerals are smuggled out to other counties for money, luxury and weapons.
Conflict minerals are extracted from the earth, they come from mines that are controlled by armed groups they are also smuggled out by rape. Conflict minerals affect the world in many ways is by mass rape, child labour problems (child soldiers), healthcare, poverty increases and the environmental impact. There is a rebel group that has said to have gained $3.7 billion diamonds in a span of six years alone.
Parvana stayed home for a few days because of what happened in the Stadium, when she came back to the market place Shauzia came to tell Parvana her secret. Her friend wanted to earn enough money and take a boat to France because she couldn’t stand the family in her home, Parvana also told Shauzia her secret about the women who would drop items for Parvana to sell.
In the summer it would be hot, the small window would make the children all cranky and whiny, the secret school had started, and the Taliban soldiers would shut down schools right away so Mrs. Weera had to be extra careful. Nooria was the teacher as well, sometimes the children would come to the house or Nooria would come to their house. One day the women would give items to Parvana every week or so, but one day she heard a mad yelling at someone and thuds, Parvana went to look at the window and see but there was nothing. When Parvana went home she heard the news that Nooria would get married.
In class, we just finished watching the move called ‘Blood Diamond’ It’s a story about a man who was separated by his family and he was one the the rebels slaves. While working for them he finds a clear diamond, he pretends to go to the bathroom to take a better look at it. One of the rebels were spying on him and told him to hand over the diamond, the place was attacked the remaining survivors were arrested, a man overheard their conversation about the diamond and he was very interested.
The story goes on about the man who found the diamond wanted to find his family again, his son was token away by the rebels. The only way he will live is to find his son and return to his family but he needed help, the help a journalist and a man who wanted the diamond, they go on a journey to find the diamond while people get in the way of their adventure.
Parvana came home and her mother was worried sick and asked her where she went, Parvana couldn’t hold it any longer and had to tell her mom about what she did to earn extra money. Parvana’s mother told Parvana to stop digging up graves because they had enough money to feed the family, Nooria objected to her mother’s saying and told her that they needed more money and they had nothing else to sell in the market. By the end of two weeks Parvana and Shauzia had enough money to buy trays and started to think about selling cigarettes and gum in packages.
When Parvana was back to her letter reading job, the house next door dropped more stuff for Parvana and Parvana would wonder who the lady was. One day there was a soccer game playing Parvana and her friend thought it was a good way to sell their cigarettes and their gum, when they reached the stadium nobody was cheering, they stayed till the soccer players came out but it wasn’t any soccer players it was Taliban soldiers cutting off a thieves arms. Parvana and her friend were extremely frightened.
Today the class talked and discussed about NAFTA which stands for North American Free Trade Agreement which includes Canada, Mexico and the United States. I find the topic interesting and important to others.
The class was watching a video and we discussed on how the Mexican citizens were getting job and how about over 40 people in Northern Mexico were mutilated on the streets/roads.
The idea Shafiq came up with was bones, they had to dig up bones to make some money. Parvana and Shafiq left Parvana’s stand and went to and old cemetery to dig up the bones, bombs would land in that area so the bones would be easy to pick up.
When Parvana reached the cemetery there was nothing in sight everything was ruined and there were no good buildings left, she noticed a man with a large scale near a ruined building he was the bone broker, he would buy the bones from the girls who dug up the bones. The other tea boys got digging early so Parvana decided to too, Parvana and Shafiq started to dig and they found a skull and lots of bones. The skull would be grinning at them and Shafiq thought it would be a good idea to let me lay on the blanket so he can watch over them.
Shafiq had to go to the bathroom so she made a joke about to be careful about the landmines, Parvana remembered that in school they would show her want landmines looked like, they looked like rocks that can blow you up in any second without warning, and they can be disguised as toys to blow up children. Parvana was scared but she couldn’t hold her pee much longer so she had to find a private place to go to the bathroom. When they were finished picking up all the bones they were really happy with the money they earned, Parvana and Shafiq planned to meet again in the morning to dig up more bones.
When Parvana met with her old classmate that was a tea boy she was shocked. Her friend Shafiq told Parvana to wait where she was so she could give her a present. After a while her friend came back with apricots, there was enough for one of each family member, Parvana and Shafiq walked home and talked about how the family members were arrested, much money they’re making, and how they miss school. Parvana was remembering the memories about how Parvana and her friends would wake home and complain about school and teachers.
Parvana invited Shafiq to meet her family and say hello, it was getting late outside so Shafiq cannot stay any longer. When they got inside Parvana’s house everyone greeted her like she was close to them but they never met her. Mrs. Weera and her mother planned to have a secret school for girls and teach them field hockey. Mother wanted to publish her magazine, while Parvana was away people came over to visit her mother and their husbands will help and support them. Almost every day Shafiq would come and meet up with Parvana and talk to her about the usual stuff. Shafiq had a plan to get more money but Parvana would not like the idea; Shafiq told her anyways and Parvana did not like the idea.
Mrs. Weera told Parvana that she would be moving into her home from now on to get her family back in shape. Nooria would make comments about Parvana’s doing but she would just ignore them because she was just in a good mood to be arguing. Mrs. Weera told Parvana about her story how there were only a few Weera’s left.
Parvana’s sister Maryam wanted to go get some water with Parvana. But her shoes were too small on her so they went to get her new ones; the whole family except for Parvana hasn’t been outside for over a year and a half. After a trip to the tap water Parvana and her sister were having a good time, they went to get water from time to time, the family was getting better, Parvana was earning money for the family not a lot but at least she got enough to feed the whole family. After a few days all the siblings would come out to play and soak in the sun.
One day while Parvana was in the market she found her father, she ran up to him trying to reach out to him but when she saw a better look on her father’s face it wasn’t him, it was just an old man who looked like him she was very disappointed. One day Parvana was getting off work and she found a bracelet, she looked around to who dropped this she looked at the wall next to her and the black window she saw a lady who smiled at her and left. The next day she was watching the tea boys playing a game and she noticed that one of them was a girl from her old school.
Chapter 7 was a short chapter but it was a good chapter as well. Parvana’s mother told her to go to the market and get some money for her and the family to spend it on food and such. Parvana liked the idea of going out to sell and read letters for others was a good idea; because she thought yesterday’s shopping spree was well done. Parvana packed the things for the market stand; she took her fancy shalwar kameez and took off.
Parvana’s mother told her if anyone asked who she was she would have to say “I am Parvana’s father’s nephew Kaseem.” Parvana was worried that someone would go up to her and yell out “GIRL!” but nobody has said anything to her yet. The Taliban came across her stand and asked her if she was a letter reader, she thought the Taliban would take out his gun and shoot her but instead he took out a letter and made her read it.
The letter was old; it was from his wife’s aunt. Parvana read it and it explained how the aunt couldn’t attend the wedding and how she was doing in Germany. The Taliban announced that his wife died, and that was one of her possessions that he cherished. Parvana kept on thinking about the solider when he left, she kept asking herself “Tablians soldiers have sad lives too.” A man came by hr stand and asked Parvana how much her shalwar kameez was, Parvana said her price but the man bargained for smaller, they kept on bargaining until they came into an agreement. Parvana was really proud of herself when she earned some money for her family, and she left to go for lunch.
So yesterday we talked about Miss. Canada being disqualified because she was born a man. In my opinion I don’t see anything wrong with her being kicked out, if she wants to be a women she can be a women. Same goes for others who are homosexual, it’s their life; they can do whatever they want. I’m really disappointed in people who go around the streets and say “GOD HATES FAGGOTS” I think they should mind their own business.
Parvana found out that she was going to be turned into a boy. Mrs. Weera explained to everyone why they would turn Parvana into a boy; so Parvana would go outside fetch some water, get groceries, and do things a man can do in their country. Out of the whole family Parvana was the only one who looked like a boy.
The whole family agreed to turn Parvana into a boy, the mom suggested that Parvana should wear Hossain’s (her deceased brother) clothing. Parvana and her mom went into the washroom so they could cut her long hair into a short cut. After her mother cut her hair Parvana could look at her facial features easily and she liked how her hair turned out. Parvana then took her brother’s clothing and put it on, she showed the whole family how she looked; her sister told her she looked better a boy than a girl, the mother just couldn’t look at Parvana properly because she looked like her older brother.
Mrs. Weera then told Parvana that when people ask where she came from she should tell them se was visiting her aunt from this city or whatsoever. Parvana stepped outside the door; she was afraid she thought somebody could have found out and called her a fake and she would be in big trouble. Parvana got into a fight with her sister and she stormed outside to buy the groceries that she couldn’t buy yesterday. Parvana got the cheapest tea, some onions and more food; she was very proud of herself when she got home. She saw her mother lying down and not saying anything, Parvana’s sister told her to fetch some water again because her sister had to clean the house and take care of their little brother.
In the evening Mrs. Weera left and the mother stood up and get to make supper, she was proud of Parvana but couldn’t look at her properly because of her deceased son, Hossian. At night Parvana’s sister Ali would fuss a little when she was sleeping Parvana heard her mother say “Go to sleep Hossian. Go to sleep, my son.
