Deborah Ellis Books In Order

Publication Order of The Breadwinner Books

Publication Order of Cocalero Books

Publication Order of Our Canadian Girl: Keeley Books

Publication Order of Art Encounters Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Collections

Publication Order of Non-Fiction Books

Publication Order of Good Reads Books

Deborah Ellis is a Canadian published author.

She was born on January 1, 1960 in Cochrane, Ontario. She has had a great career and has received international acclaim for her bold books that focus on giving Western readers a window into the plight of children living in developing countries.

Deborah has received the Governor General’s Award for English language children’s literature for Looking for X, her first novel. She has also received the Ruth Schwartz Award, the Peter Pan Prize from Sweden, the University of California’s Middle East Book Award, the Vicky Metcalf Award, and the Jane Addams Children’s Book Award.

The author first decided that she wanted to begin writing when she was around eleven or twelve years old. She has been a feminist and an anti-war activist for a long time and has penned many children’s books that show this. She went to Afghanistan in 1997 so that she could interview women in refugee camps. From this experience and interviews she wrote a trilogy that became The Breadwinner, Parvana’s Journey and Mud City, as well as the book for adults Women of the Afghan War.

The Breadwinner Trilogy has been read all over the world and has been published in 17 languages. Over a million dollars in royalties have been able to be donated to Street Kids International and Women for Women, an organization that supports health and education projects in Afghanistan. She was named to the Order of Ontario in 2006.

The Breadwinner was inspired by an interview Ellis held with a mother in a refugee camp, but the other books that would come in the trilogy contained more ‘imaginative explorations of how children would survive’.

Ellis would also write a book about the planned terrorist attacks in Canada. She wrote it along with Eric Walters and the book was titled Bifocal. It highlights two boys and the different sides they have of the story when it comes to what happened. Ellis has also created and written the Cocalero series, the Prison Runner series, and the Onward series.

The Breadwinner is the first book in the series by the same name by Deborah Ellis. If you have been looking for something interesting to read but you don’t know where to find it, consider giving this book a try and see what you think.

Ever since the Taliban decided that they wanted to take over Afghanistan, Parvana has not been outdoors as much as she used to be. She’s just eleven years old but is old enough to notice that things have changed. She isn’t that enamored with the way things have shifted either.

She’s now been kept from going to school, shopping at the market, or playing in the streets. The new way that things are means that she is effectively trapped inside the home of her family, which has just one room. But when the Taliban takes her father away, Parvana realizes that they do not have a breadwinner anymore and it is up to her to fulfill the role.

She takes on this position and disguises herself as a boy so that she can go out and make money to support her family– her mother, sisters, and little baby brother. This novel takes place during the early years of the Taliban regime and it shows the reality that girls and women have to go through in Afghanistan even to this day.

This book is based off of the real stories of women who were in Afghan refugee camps. In Parvana, Ellis has come up with a character that North American kids can relate to. She is westernized in the way that she views things and has parents who are university educated. The result is a character that readers can relate to and root for and a unique story that serious readers won’t want to miss.

Parvana’s Journey is the second book in The Breadwinner series by Deborah Ellis. If you thought that the first book of this series was interesting, check out the second one and see what you think in this compelling sequel.

In this story, readers pick up with the main character Parvana once more. The Taliban are still in control of Afghanistan and Kabul has been reduced to ruins. Things have gotten worse for Parvana and her family as her father has just recently passed away and she knows that her brother, sister, and mother could be anywhere out there in the country.

Now she just has to find them. Parvana may be young but that isn’t going to stop her from trying to track down her family. She dresses herself up as a boy to be extra safe. As she goes out into the world, she encounters other kids who have been victims of war. These include a young boy in a completely destroyed village, a young girl who believes she has magical powers that let her control the landmines, and a little boy who only has one leg.

They have all found each other and travel around together, in a type of group or found family that came about out of sheer necessity. This has meant that they all have formed a very strong bond and their connection with each other means that they are even better equipped to make it through these times even when the conditions are dire.

Can Parvana keep on going in order to find her family or will she give up and become part of the group in a desperate attempt to survive? Anything is possible when it comes to this fascinating fictional tale that was inspired by real people and events.

On top of being a worthy read from Ellis, this book also does some good as the royalties that come form the sales of the book go directly to the organization Women for Women, a group that helps women in Afghanistan. Check out Parvana’s Journey by Deborah Ellis in order to follow along with every word, inform yourself a little more, and help out a good cause!