Jameela

'A beautifully written story about a girl - and a country - struggling to overcome the devastation of war, an important book that should be widely read.' - Deborah Ellis

Description

'Come, Jameela. Stand right here. I need to do something.'

I grab hold of his sleeve. 'Where are you going?'

His face is twisted. He doesn't look at me. 'Never mind.'

Jameela lives with her family in a war-torn village in Afghanistan. Life is hard, but when her mother dies, and her father remarries, Jameela has to face a greater horror. To survive she draws on the strong sense of self that her mother gave her.

Based on a real girl called Sameela, and a real orphanage, this unforgettable novel tells the story of a devout Muslim girl and what life is really like in post-Taliban Afghanistan. 'Jameela is such an intriguing, inspiring character...a beautiful and life-affirming story.' - Randa Abdel-Fattah, author of Does My Head Look Big in This?

Award

Winner, Youth Fiction category, Middle East Book Award, USA, 2009

About Rukhsana Khan: Rukhsana Khan is an award-winning author and storyteller. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, she grew up in Dundas, Ontario, and now lives in Toronto, Canada. She is an active speaker and an expert on books with international and Muslim themes. She has presented at schools and communities across Canada and the US, as well as at the 2006 ALA Conference in New Orleans, the 2004 IBBY Congress in Capetown and the 2008 IBBY Congress in Denmark. Her books tell tales of India, Persia and the Middle East as well as her own stories, and they include The Roses in my Carpets (Fitzhenry and Whiteside, 2004), Muslim Child (Napoleon/Whitman, 1999, 2002), Silly Chicken (Viking, 2005), Many Windows: Six Kids, Five Faiths, One Community (Napoleon, 2008) and A New Life (Groundwood, 2009).