The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis

This young adult novel takes place in today's war-torn Afghanistan. The story follows Parvana, a girl who must cut her hair and dress as a boy to be able to work on the streets of Kabul selling trinkets and cigarettes and reading and writing letters for a small fee.

I read this book to preview it for my homeschool history classes for next year (our modern history studies will take us into the 1990's). I plan to read it aloud to my 9th graders but not my 4th and 5th graders due to the heaviness of the material and a few graphic descriptions. It is very well done and shows the terrible lack of women's rights and human rights in that part of the world without making a villain out of every male character.