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Annotated Award-Winning Titles

Red Cedar Book Award
(Young Reader's Choice Awards Society of B.C.)
For the favourite book of British Columbia schoolchildren
For fiction
Mud City
Deborah Ellis
Toronto: Groundwood Books,
2003. 164 p.
ISBN 0888995180 (bound)
ISBN 0888995423 (paperback)
Ages 12 and up

Mud City
Source

In this, the third book of the Breadwinner Trilogy, Shauzia and her dog Jasper dream of living by the sea in France and resting in a field of lavender. It is only a dream because 14-year-old Shauzia is stuck in an Afghan Widows' Compound in Pakistan. After yet another frustrating conversation with Mrs. Weera, the camp's organizer, Shauzia decides that she can live a better life on her own. In the dark of night, Shauzia and Jasper sneak away from the compound, only to be assaulted by the sights, sounds and smells of Peshawar, the nearest big city.

While in Peshawar, Shauzia decides that her only hope of finding work and the money she needs desperately to realize her dream is to dress and act like a boy. After searching for work, begging on the corner, spending a terrifying night in prison and passing a confusing few days with an American family, she finds herself right back where she started: the Widows' Compound. Will Shauzia and Jasper ever get to France? Or will Shauzia realize that surviving and helping others is more important?

This novel tells of a young teenager's strength of spirit in the face of adversity, and depicts life in a refugee camp in a very truthful and upfront manner.

–SC