Grateful

Good books take you somewhere else.  It doesn't matter if that somewhere else is familiar or in a totally new world, the point is that you are completely immersed in a new world.  The best books also teach you something about your world.

Deborah Ellis' The Breadwinner is the best kind of book.  You are transported to Afghanistan and instantly feel like you are in Parvana's world.  You ache for her when you learn her mother and father have lost their jobs and her father must now work in the marketplace reading and writing letters for strangers.  The Taliban have completely changed her day to day life, and not for the better.

Parvana's mother and older sister can't go outside without wearing a burka, so they choose to just stay inside.  Parvana is young enough to not need a burka but she is still looked down on as a female.  To help make ends meet Parvana disguises herself as a boy so that she too can work in the marketplace.

This book gave me new gratitude for my own life.  I never have to cover my face when I go out and I am allowed to have the job that I love.  But what's even better is that if someone chooses to cover their face because of their own individual convictions they are free to do that too.

The Breadwinner is set in modern times.  I would love for students to read this book as part of learning about other cultures.  Middle grades often have a unit on the middle east.  This would be a great part of that unit.  It really makes you realize what life would be like if the Taliban lived in your town. I am grateful that my students only know the Taliban from afar but it's important they realize what a privilege that is.

Being grateful...that's kids stuff.