Mud City by Deborah Ellis

This review is by Isaiah, age 12.

This book is the third in the "Breadwinner" series. It tells the story of Shauzia, Parvana's best friend, as she tries to get to France.

General rating: 3 out of 4--not uplifting, but good to read anyway

1. Is it plausible? Yes. It is very plausible. It happened 10 or 15 years ago when the Taliban had control of Afghanistan.

2. Is it thought provoking? Yes, it was very thought provoking. Several times I thought if it would be possible to go that far or to do that many things or to act like that. She did some very brave things.

3. Is it engaging? It is very engaging--you want to know what happens next. There are a lot of cliffhangers and dead ends.

4. Is it uplifting? No. It's not uplifting because she never gets to France in the end, she gets hurt, and more than half the time she's starving. But all of the rest of the book is a very good book and tells an interesting story.

Language: none
Sex: none

My recommendation: It was a good book. I would have liked to have read more about Parvana, because "Parvana's Journey" (the previous book) ended in kind of a cliffhanger. "Mud City" was the book I liked best in the series, though, because it was an interesting story to tell and it told me more about Afghanistan and Pakistan than the previous two did. I recommend this book for ages 10 and up. It can be read apart from the series because it tells a totally different story. I recommend that you read it.