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ABOUT THE BOOK
NO SPOILERSEleven-year-old Parvana lives with her family in one room of a half-ruined apartment building in Kabul, where the Taliban have closed the girls' schools and ordered women and girls to stay inside. Most days she gets out for a few hours to help her father, a former history teacher who lost part of his leg when his school was bombed, walk to the market. There she sits silently on a blanket, her face hidden by her chador, while he reads and writes letters for people who can't read or write. Then one evening soldiers burst into their home and take her father away. With no man to go outside for them, the family soon runs out of food, so Parvana agrees to have her hair cut short, puts on her dead brother's clothes, and goes back to the market as a boy named Kaseem, taking her father's place on the blanket. Out in the city she finds an unexpected friend, tiny gifts from someone behind a painted-over window, and more nerve than she knew she had, but every day she has to make sure no one discovers she's really a girl.
Free Battle of the Books questions for The Breadwinner
SPOILERSEvery one of these has the same answer, and that is the point. In a real battle the question is read aloud with a dozen other books in play, and students have a few seconds to place it. Here is what a battle might ask about The Breadwinner. Use them as a quiz, a trivia round, or BOTB practice.
Where in the book they come from
- Early in the book
In what book does a customer see a false leg on a blanket and demand to buy it?
✓ Answer
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
Parvana's father lost the lower part of his leg when the high school he taught in was bombed. He hadn't planned to sell his false leg, but the customer offered such a good price that he finally gave in.
- First half
In what book does a girl hold up ten fingers at a baker's stall for ten loaves?
✓ Answer
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
Shopping without Father, Parvana pulls her chador tight so only her eyes show. She waits for four more loaves to be flipped out of the oven, and the warm nan comes wrapped in newspaper.
- First half
In what book does a girl refuse to keep her cut-off hair tied up with a ribbon?
✓ Answer
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
Mother cuts off one big chunk of Parvana's hair first and offers to tie it with a lovely piece of ribbon so she can keep it. The hair doesn't seem important to Parvana any more, so she says, "No, thanks. Throw it away."
- Second half
In what book does a girl throw her arms around a stranger in the market she mistakes for her father?
✓ Answer
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
Parvana is sure she sees Father walking away from her, but the man she hugs asks, "Who are you, boy?" and she looks up into a strange face. He kindly tells her that people are released from prison sometimes and that she should not give up hope.
- Second half
In what book will stories for a mother's new magazine be smuggled out, printed, and smuggled back in?
✓ Answer
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
When Parvana asks how Mother and Mrs. Weera will publish their magazine, Mrs. Weera says the stories will be smuggled out to Pakistan to be printed, then smuggled back in a few at a time. When Parvana asks who will do the smuggling, Mother says other women in their organization will.
- Near the end
In what book does a girl daydream of smashing a painted-over window to rescue a princess on a fast horse?
✓ Answer
The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis
When Parvana shows Shauzia the little gifts from the window, Shauzia guesses the woman might be a princess. Parvana says she'll need a fast horse, and Shauzia points to some long-haired sheep snuffling through the market garbage.
