Background
Deborah Ellis was born on August 8, 1960, in Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, to Keith Ellis, an office manager, and Betty Daugherty Ellis, a nurse.
Deborah Ellis
Deborah Ellis
Deborah Ellis
Deborah Ellis
Deborah Ellis
Deborah Ellis
(In this urban adventure story, Khyber, a smart, bold, ele...)
In this urban adventure story, Khyber, a smart, bold, eleven-year-old girl from a poor neighborhood, sets out to find her friend X, a mysterious homeless woman who has gone missing. The desperate search takes Khyber on a long, all-night odyssey that proves to be wilder than any adventure she has ever imagined.
https://www.amazon.com/Looking-X-Deborah-Ellis-ebook/dp/B00IN8P3WQ/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2CLooking+for+X&qid=1580208009&sr=8-1
1999
(This is an account of the Afghan War and its tragic after...)
This is an account of the Afghan War and its tragic aftermath as told by the women who were caught up in it and became its innocent victims. The voices in this oral history will provide personal snapshots to the news reports of the Taliban activities now coming out of Afghanistan. These accounts provide an historical background to the growth of the Taliban, and reveal circumstances of the daily life of the women who must survive in this very closed society.
https://www.amazon.com/Women-Afghan-War-Deborah-Ellis-ebook/dp/B000PY3EQI/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2CWomen+of+the+Afghan+War&qid=1580209302&sr=8-1
2000
(The first book in Deborah Ellis’s riveting Breadwinner se...)
The first book in Deborah Ellis’s riveting Breadwinner series is an award-winning novel about loyalty, survival, families and friendship under extraordinary circumstances during the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8OTAI/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0
2001
(The second book in the internationally-bestselling series...)
The second book in the internationally-bestselling series that includes The Breadwinner, Mud City and My Name Is Parvana. A war is raging in Afghanistan as a coalition of Western forces tries to oust the Taliban by bombing the country. Parvana’s father has died, and her mother, sister and brother have gone to a faraway wedding, not knowing what has happened to the father. Parvana doesn’t know where they are. She just knows she has to find them.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8P8JO/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i1
2002
(Henri has been living within abbey walls all his life, fi...)
Henri has been living within abbey walls all his life, first in the care of nuns, then as a choirboy at St. Luc's, not far from Paris. He expects to spend the rest of his life there, copying books in the Scriptorium with the other brothers, and singing Mass in the great cathedral. Then Micah arrives, a streetwise ragamuffin with the voice of an angel, saved from certain hanging to sing for God instead of coins. Micah comes like a fresh breeze into dead places, bringing exuberant joy at a time when Henri most needs it. For the plague is coming, the grim reaper that will slash at the very roots of Henri's security. And neither Henri nor Micah nor anyone else in their world will ever be the same.
https://www.amazon.com/Company-Fools-Deborah-Ellis/dp/1554550726/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+A+Company+of+Fools&qid=1580211264&sr=8-1
2002
(The third book in the internationally-bestselling series ...)
The third book in the internationally-bestselling series that includes The Breadwinner, Mud City and My Name Is Parvana. Parvana’s best friend, Shauzia, has escaped the misery of her life in Kabul, only to end up in a refugee camp in Pakistan. But she still dreams of seeing the ocean and eventually making a new life in France. This is the dream that has sustained her through the terrible years in Kabul. It is the dream for which she has forsaken family and friends.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8ORLO/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i5
2003
(In a rehabilitation center for disabled children, twelve-...)
In a rehabilitation center for disabled children, twelve-year-old Nora says she loves the color pink and chewing gum and explains that the wheels of her wheelchair are like her legs. Eleven-year-old Mohammad describes how his house was demolished by soldiers. And we meet twelve-year-old Salam, whose older sister walked into a store in Jerusalem and blew herself up, killing herself and two people, and injuring twenty others. All these children live both ordinary and extraordinary lives. They argue with their siblings. They dream about their wishes for the future. They have also seen their homes destroyed, their families killed, and they live in the midst of constant upheaval and violence.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8P40W/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i11
2004
(At her father's funeral, Binti's grandmother utters the w...)
At her father's funeral, Binti's grandmother utters the words that no one in Malawi wants to hear. Binti's father and her mother before him, dies of AIDS. Binti, her sister, and brother are separated and sent to the home of relatives who can barely tolerate their presence. Ostracized by their extended family, the orphans are treated like the lowest servants. With her brother far away and her sister wallowing in her own sorrow, Binti can hardly contain her rage. She, Binti Phirim, was once a child star of a popular radio program. Now she is scraping to survive. Binti always believed she was special, now she is nothing but a common AIDS orphan.
https://www.amazon.com/Heaven-Shop-Deborah-Ellis/dp/1554550866/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+The+Heaven+Shop&qid=1580211403&sr=8-1
2004
(For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San...)
For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San Sebastian Women’s Prison in Cochabamba, Bolivia. His parents farmed coca, a traditional Bolivian medicinal plant, until they got caught in the middle of the government’s war on drugs. Diego’s adjusted to his new life. His parents are locked up, but he can come and go: to school, to the market to sell his mother’s hand-knitted goods, and to work as a taxi," running errands for other prisoners. But then his little sister runs away, earning his mother a heavy fine. The debt and dawning realization of his hopeless situation make him vulnerable to his friend Mando’s plan to make big money, fast. Soon, Diego is deep in the jungle, working as a virtual slave in an illegal cocaine operation.
https://www.amazon.com/I-Am-Taxi-Cocalero-Novels/dp/0888997361/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+I+Am+a+Taxi&qid=1580211523&sr=8-1
2006
(Jake and his sister Shoshona have been under foster care ...)
Jake and his sister Shoshona have been under foster care since their single mother was arrested for possession and trafficking three years before. Both have found their own ways to cope: Shoshona has become a bossy mother figure; Jake, who is a budding comic book artist, has created an alter ego named Jakeman. And unbeknownst to his sister, Jake continues his one-man letter-writing campaign to the Governor, pleading for clemency for their mom. Along with an assortment of nervous, angry, and damaged kids, Jake and Shoshona take a community-provided school bus four times a year on the long overnight journey through New York State to visit their mother in jail.
https://www.amazon.com/Jakeman-Deborah-Ellis/dp/1550415751/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+Jakeman&qid=1580211667&sr=8-1
2007
(Two bestselling authors join forces to write a powerful n...)
Two bestselling authors join forces to write a powerful novel about racism. A student arrested on suspicions of terrorism. A high school torn apart by racism. Two boys from two different sets of circumstances forced to choose sides. These are the issues at the heart of Bifocal, a ground-breaking new novel for young-adults. The story is told from two different points of view. Haroon is a serious student devoted to his family. His grandparents emigrated from Afghanistan. Jay is a football star devoted to his team.
https://www.amazon.com/Bifocal-Deborah-Ellis/dp/155455036X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+Bifocal&qid=1580211822&sr=8-1
2007
(Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explore...)
Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explores the lives of children who have been affected directly, or indirectly, by drugs. Sometimes touching and often surprising, the stories are set against backdrops as diverse as the remote north and small town America to Moscow's Red Square and an opium farm in Afghanistan. This is an unforgettable collection of stories that will elicit discussions about the toll drugs take on the lives of teenagers and their families.
https://www.amazon.com/Lunch-Lenin-other-stories-Deborah/dp/1554551056/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+Lunch+with+Lenin+and+Other+Stories&qid=1580211983&sr=8-1
2008
(Deborah Ellis has been widely praised for her gripping bo...)
Deborah Ellis has been widely praised for her gripping books portraying the plight of children in war-torn countries. Now she turns her attention closer to home, to the children whose parents are soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.
https://www.amazon.com/Off-War-Voices-Soldiers-Children-ebook/dp/B00IN8P72M/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+Off+to+War&qid=1580212140&sr=8-1
2008
(In this book, Deborah Ellis turns her attention to the mo...)
In this book, Deborah Ellis turns her attention to the most tragic victims of the Iraq war - Iraqi children. She interviews young people, mostly refugees living in Jordan, but also a few who are trying to build new lives in North America. Some families have left Iraq with money; others are penniless and ill or disabled. Most of the children have parents who are working illegally or not at all, and the fear of deportation is a constant threat.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8OTIU/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i8
2009
(Orphaned and plagued with the grief of losing everyone he...)
Orphaned and plagued with the grief of losing everyone he loves, 15-year-old Abdul has made a long, fraught journey from his war-torn home in Baghdad, only to end up in The Jungle a squalid, makeshift migrant community in Calais, France. He takes a spot in a small, overloaded boat heading to England and full of other illegal migrants and a secret stash of heroin.
https://www.amazon.com/No-Safe-Place-Deborah-Ellis/dp/0888999747/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+No+Safe+Place&qid=1580212260&sr=8-1
2010
(On a military base in post-Taliban Afghanistan, American ...)
On a military base in post-Taliban Afghanistan, American authorities have just imprisoned a teenaged girl found in a bombed-out school. The army major thinks she may be a terrorist working with the Taliban. The girl does not respond to questions in any language and remains silent, even when she is threatened, harassed and mistreated over several days. The only clue to her identity is a tattered shoulder bag containing papers that refer to people named Shauzia, Nooria, Leila, Asif, Hassan - and Parvana.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8OV4C/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i3
2011
(There’s not much that upsets young Valli. Even though her...)
There’s not much that upsets young Valli. Even though her days are spent picking coal and fighting with her cousins, life in the coal town of Jharia, India, is the only life she knows. The only sight that fills her with terror are the monsters who live on the other side of the train tracks -- the lepers. Valli and the other children throw stones at them. No matter how hard her life is, she tells herself, at least she will never be one of them. Then she discovers that she is not living with family after all, that her "aunt" was a stranger who was paid money to take Valli off her own family’s hands. She decides to leave Jharia and so begins a series of adventures that takes her to Kolkata, the city of the gods.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8OYEO/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i10
2011
(A person doesn't have to do anything important to get rec...)
A person doesn't have to do anything important to get recognition anymore; it's enough to know someone who does. Parasitic fame. Casey was more than just a dependable camp counselor dedicated to her little buddies in Cabin Three. She was a brilliant student looking forward to a scholarship and a future career in entomology. Casey wasn't the kind of girl who would be stuck in a town like Galloway the rest of her life.
https://www.amazon.com/True-Blue-Deborah-Ellis-ebook/dp/B01MQ6INWL/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Deborah+Ellis%2C+True+Blue&qid=1580212348&sr=8-1
2011
(In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find out. She int...)
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. The two dozen or so children featured in the book range in age from ten to seventeen.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IN8OVPG/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i9
2012
(Based on interviews with a young woman forced to flee Ira...)
Based on interviews with a young woman forced to flee Iran because of her sexual orientation, Moon at Nine is a tense and riveting novel that shines a light on an issue of social injustice that continues to this day.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07C91FXSQ/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i7
2014
(Jamar found refuge in a gang after leaving an abusive hom...)
Jamar found refuge in a gang after leaving an abusive home where his mother stole from him. Fred was arrested for assault with a weapon, public intoxication and attacking his mother while on drugs. Jeremy first went to court at age fourteen (“Court gives you the feeling that you can never make up for what you did, that you’re just bad forever”) but now wears a Native Rights hat to remind him of his strong Métis heritage. Kate, charged with petty theft and assault, finally found a counselor who treated her like a person for the first time.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07R926HMW/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i6
2019
Deborah Ellis was born on August 8, 1960, in Cochrane, Ontario, Canada, to Keith Ellis, an office manager, and Betty Daugherty Ellis, a nurse.
Deborah Ellis has achieved international acclaim with her courageous and dramatic books that give Western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in developing countries. She is best known for The Breadwinner Trilogy, grounded in the interviews of refugees at an Afghan refugee camp, who she met during her travel to Pakistan in 1997. The series includes The Breadwinner (2001), Parvana's Journey (2002), Mud City (2003), and My Name is Parvana (2011). Currently, Deborah has more than thirty books to her credit. Among her other works are Looking for X (1999), The Heaven Shop (2004), I Am a Taxi (2006), and most recent Moon at Nine (2014).
(Orphaned and plagued with the grief of losing everyone he...)
2010(Based on interviews with a young woman forced to flee Ira...)
2014(The first book in Deborah Ellis’s riveting Breadwinner se...)
2001(In a rehabilitation center for disabled children, twelve-...)
2004(In this urban adventure story, Khyber, a smart, bold, ele...)
1999(Jake and his sister Shoshona have been under foster care ...)
2007(This is an account of the Afghan War and its tragic after...)
2000(Deborah Ellis's first collection of short stories explore...)
2008(On a military base in post-Taliban Afghanistan, American ...)
2011(The second book in the internationally-bestselling series...)
2002(The third book in the internationally-bestselling series ...)
2003(Deborah Ellis has been widely praised for her gripping bo...)
2008(A person doesn't have to do anything important to get rec...)
2011(In this book, Deborah Ellis turns her attention to the mo...)
2009(Henri has been living within abbey walls all his life, fi...)
2002(For twelve-year-old Diego and his family, home is the San...)
2006(At her father's funeral, Binti's grandmother utters the w...)
2004(Jamar found refuge in a gang after leaving an abusive hom...)
2019(Two bestselling authors join forces to write a powerful n...)
2007(In 2011, Deborah Ellis went to Kabul to find out. She int...)
2012(There’s not much that upsets young Valli. Even though her...)
2011Deborah is a passionate advocate for the disenfranchised. She "walks the talk," donating most of her royalty income to worthy causes — Canadian Women for Women in Afghanistan, Street Kids International, the Children in Crisis Fund of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People) and UNICEF. She has donated more than one million dollars in royalties from her Breadwinner books alone.
Deborah helped people in Afghanistan by donating books and materials, and traveled to Africa to help research kids living with AIDS as they know it (AIDS-affected regions.)
Quotations:
"I’m fascinated by the capacity of children to cope in a dangerous world, to live in it with joy and dignity. That is the general theme running through my books for young readers."
"Sometimes I enjoy writing, sometimes I hate it because it takes me away from more pleasurable activities, but always I am compelled to do it. There is nothing so satisfying as completing another manuscript, knowing I’ve gotten through it one more time. Maybe it will sell, maybe it won’t - that’s up to the gods - but at least I didn’t quit, and that feels great."