Mud City - Softcover

Ellis, Deborah

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0888995423 ISBN 13: 9780888995421

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2004

Synopsis

This final book of the acclaimed trilogy that includes The Breadwinner and Parvana’s Journey continues the story of Parvana's best friend. Fourteen-year-old Shauzia, has escaped the misery of her life in Kabul, only to end up in a refugee camp in Pakistan. She still dreams of seeing the ocean and eventually making a new life in France.
Shauzia finally decides to leave the camp and try her luck on the streets. She is determined to earn money to leave Pakistan. Peshawar is dangerous and full of desperately poor children like herself, but she has her dog Jasper.She figures she knows how to survive, but an incident with a dishonest man lands her in jail, where she spends the night, terrified and despairing, before she is rescued by well-meaning Americans.
They take her and Jasper to their home in a residential part of Peshawar, and for a time she has a taste of a life where children are safe and have food to eat. But just when she thinks the family will ask her to stay with them, disaster ensues, and Shauzia finds herself driven back to the refugee camp, where she discovers the old choices are not so easy any more.

About this title

About the Author

Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries. She has won the Governor General's Award, Sweden's Peter Pan Prize, the Ruth Schwartz Award, the University of California's Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Children's Book Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award. A long-time feminist and anti-war activist, she is best known for the Parvana series, which has been published around the world in seventeen languages, with more than a million dollars in royalties donated to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. In 2006, Deb was named to the Order of Ontario.

From AudioFile

The final book in Ellis's BREADWINNER trilogy is the story of Shauzia, a young Afghani refugee in Pakistan who dreams of freedom. Meera Simhan's narration brings to life the harshness of existence for refugees. She gives 13-year-old Shauzia a believable voice, filled with the self-centeredness of a young person who is trying to exert her independence and cling to her dreams of a better life. Simhan's narration reflects Shauzia's growth as she develops into a young heroine who learns the importance of community. An author's note gives historical context to the story and provides the listener with sources through which to lend aid to Afghani refugees. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0888995423
• ISBN 13: 9780888995421
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 176