Don’t you just hate school uniforms? Well, imagine living in a country where all women had to follow a very strict dress code. The system consisted of covering your face and body so that you were not seen; this covering was called a burqa. The Taliban were a militia that took control of the small, landlocked country called Afghanistan. They enforced very severe conducts upon women and girls, including not allowing them to work, attend school, or even go outside. The paperback ‘Parvana’s Journey’ by Deborah Ellis deals with these issues. Most of this book is set in the afghan wilderness, where there is no food in sight, except for the occasional animal or stream that may trickle by. Mine fields also littler no man’s land. A land mine is a bomb planted in the ground, which explodes if stepped on.
The main characters in this tale consist of Parvana, Asif, Leila and Hassan. Parvana is a young girl, at the age of thirteen years. She never gives up hope and is courageous. She steals eggs from a man’s chickens for food, even though she knows that it is wrong. She grabs a baby boy and names him Hassan, even though he is not her responsibility and she could barely take care of herself. Asif is a young boy about ten years old. Toward Parvana, he is stubborn and annoying. He does not listen to Parvana, and criticizes many things she does. For example, while changing baby Hassan’s diaper; he remarks that she is doing it wrong because he was being fussy. Then, silently and patiently, he takes Hassan and does it the right way. This is what makes him stubborn, because he thinks he knows everything, even though sometimes he does not. Parvana also stumbles upon a young girl named Leila, who is eight years old. Leila is very smart and helpful. She sticks with Parvana and provides her with assistance. The conflict in this story is man versus nature because they’re living and wandering throughout the Afghanistan wilderness. They need shelter, food