Breadwinner Reading Response Questions: Due Dec 23, 2016

Remember to write a paragraph response for each chapter question. Merci!

1. How long has it been since the mother and children, except for Parvana, have been outside the house? Imagine you were not allowed to leave your home. How do you think you would cope?
2. When you are reading, what techniques do you use to figure out a word you don’t know (e.g., read ahead and back to see if it is defined; use the glossary; use context)? How does the author give clues to a word’s meaning (e.g., how does “stretched out on a toshak” help a reader understand what a “toshak” is)?
3. What character strengths has Parvana shown in the novel so far?
4. “Everybody leans on everybody in this family” (page 48). What does Parvana mean by this? Would you say this is true in your own family? How could you be a better support for family and/or friends?
5. What are your first impressions of Mrs. Weera? Find two things she says or does that give you a strong sense of her character.
6. How does Parvana feel when she is out in the market as a boy?
7. Why do you think the author included the scene with Parvana reading the letter for the Talib?
8. Nooria says that she had forgotten how good the sun feels on her face. Maryam has to be helped to walk down the stairs. If you were forced to stay indoors, what would you miss most about being outside? Why is it unhealthy to be indoors for so long?
9. How are Parvana’s and Shauzia’s lives similar? How are they different?
10. “Kabul has more land mines than flowers,” the father used to say  
       (page 109). Share what you know about land mines.
11.  Why did Parvana end up telling her family about the bone-digging  
       even though she had said she wouldn’t?
12. Why did Parvana’s parents disagree about leaving Afghanistan?
13. Parvana feels both relieved and sulky about not going to Mazar-e-  
       Sharif. Describe a time you have felt that kind of mixed emotion.
14. Had you predicted that the father would return? Why or why not?
15. What do Parvana and Shauzia plan to do in twenty years? Do you think   
        this plan will come true? Explain your reasoning.