New Releases by Deborah Ellis

"The seated child. With a single powerful image, Deborah Ellis draws our attention to nine children and the situations they find themselves in, often through no fault of their own. In each story, a child makes a decision and takes action, be that a tiny gesture or a life-altering choice."--

Parvana's best friend, 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, but it's hard to imagine when she is living in the Widows Compound of a muddy, crowded refugee camp outside Peshawar. Shauzia finally decides to leave the camp and try her luck on the streets. Peshawar is dangerous and full of desperately poor and wandering children like herself, but she has Jasper, the dog who followed her down from a shepherds camp in the mountains, and she knows how to masquerade as a boy and comb the streets for jobs. But life as a street kid is dangerous and terrifying, even with the advantages of a strong will, brave spirit, and good luck.

A cat sneaks into a small Palestinian house on the West Bank that has been commandeered by two Israeli soldiers. The house seems empty, until the cat realizes that a little boy is hiding beneath the floorboards. Should she help him? After all, she's just a cat. Or is she? She was once a regular North American girl, but that was before she died and came back to life as a cat. When the little boy is discovered, the soldiers don't know what to do with him. It is not long before his teacher and classmates come looking for him, and the house is suddenly surrounded by Palestinian villagers throwing rocks, and the sound of Israeli tanks approaching. As the soldiers begin to panic and disaster seems certain, the cat knows that it is up to her to diffuse the situation. But what can a cat do? What can any one creature do?

Duncan is angry that his wife, Tess, has turned the dining room into a library. Then tragedy strikes. Tess gets sick, and soon Duncan is alone. He clears out the books, but suddenly, things start to move around by themselves and a strange message appears in the kitchen. Is the house haunted? Scared, Duncan turns to two unlikely friends. With their help, he learns about himself, Tess, and lasting love.

Since its publication in 2000, hundreds of thousands of children all over the world have read and loved The Breadwinner. By reading the story of eleven-year-old Parvana and her struggles living under the terror of the Taliban, young readers came to know the plight of children in Afghanistan. But what has happened to Afghanistan's children since the fall of the Taliban in 2001? In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find out. She interviewed children who spoke about their lives now. They are still living in a country torn apart by war. Violence and oppression still exist, particularly affecting the lives of girls, but the kids are weathering their lives with courage and optimism: "I was incredibly impressed by the sense of urgency these kids have--needing to get as much education and life experience and fun as they can, because they never know when the boom is going to be lowered on them again." The two dozen or so children featured in the book range in age from ten to seventeen. Many are girls Deb met through projects funded by Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan (http://www.cw4wafghan.ca), the organization that is supported by royalties from The Breadwinner Trilogy. Parvana's Fund provides grants toward education projects for Afghan women and children, including schools, libraries and literacy programs.--Publisher description.