Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (Shabanu, #1)

Rate this book

Clear rating

1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (Shabanu #1)

3.74 of 5 stars 3.74 · rating details · 3,832 ratings · 409 reviews

Life is both sweet and cruel to strong-willed young Shabanu, whose home is the windswept Cholistan Desert of Pakistan. The second daughter in a family with no sons, she’s been allowed freedoms forbidden to most Muslim girls. But when a tragic encounter with a wealthy and powerful landowner ruins the marriage plans of her older sister, Shabanu is called upon to sacrifice ev...more

Paperback, 240 pages

Published August 12th 2003 by Laurel Leaf (first published January 1st 1989)

more details... edit details

Get a copy:

More…

Friend Reviews

To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.

Lists with This Book

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

Teen Historical Fiction

89th out of 549 books — 1,448 voters

Best Feminist Young Adult Books

117th out of 786 books — 741 voters

More lists with this book...

Community Reviews

(showing 1-30 of 3,000)

filter | sort: default (?) | rating details

Feb 08, 2008 Jessica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: youngadult

An amazing look at the life of a Pakistani girl who has grown up in the desert. When she reaches marriageable age, content with the knowledge that she will marry one of her cousins, family tragedy and upheaval leads to her being used as a bargaining chip to settle a feud. The author lived among the camel-herding people of Pakistan for several years, and bases her characters on real people she knows.

5 likes · like · see review

Mar 04, 2011 Nenia Campbell rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-baby-ya, x-1980s

Shabanu is a young Pakistani girl who is part of a family of people who raise camels. The plot of the story revolves around getting ready for the wedding of her beautiful older sister, Phulan. Unlike her sister, Shabanu resents being thrust into adulthood so early, and is reluctant to get married and let herself be "owned" by a man. Since she is the youngest, and lives in the isolated desert, her free-spirited ways are tolerated more, and she has been allowed to run wild.

All of that changes when...more

4 likes · like · see review

Jan 17, 2010 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-east-muslims, young-adult, fiction

A surprisingly affecting and well written book. I rarely read young adult fiction, but my daughter recommended this one, and I felt I was long overdue to read some more books about Arab or Islamic culture – especially women in the Arab/Islamic world.(My other books include Palace Walk and Reading Lolita in Tehran).

This is the story of a young nomadic girl from the Cholistan Desert on the Pakistan side of the India-Pakistan border. The picture of life in a nomadic society is well drawn – the imp...more

1 like · like · see review

Oct 14, 2007 Shelley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: class

week 7

This took me awhile to get into. It was, at the start, very choppy and full of vignettes, rather than a cohesive story. Once they finally got to the story, it was difficult mainly because here was this bright and intelligent and promising 11 year old girl getting sold off to a 50 year old man who was in love with her, to be his fourth wife, so her older sister could marry the man Shabanu had originally been meant to marry. At that point, it wasn't even the ages, because that's the culture,...more

1 like · like · see review

Jun 10, 2013 Ashley rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shabanu Daughter of the Wind
Though the protagonist, Shabanu, is only twelve at the start of the novel, much of the content is more appropriate for older readers. Set in the Cholistan desert in Pakistan, Shebanu and her family struggle to find enough money to pay for her sister Phulan’s dowry for her wedding the next summer. Shebanu watches as her sister suddenly transforms from a young thirteen year old girl to the soon-to-be wife of a man from the city through an arranged marriage. Shebanu str...more

like · see review

Jan 21, 2013 Janelle Whitfield rated it 4 of 5 stars

As I began Shabanu, daughter of the wind I had high hopes for the story. The book is a 1990 Newbery Honor Book and it came highly recommended by two close friends. Last week I read The Breadwinner which takes place in present day Afghanistan interestingly Shabanu takes place in present day Pakistan. I hadn’t planned the correlation when I decided on either book but it was interesting to read them one after the other. Shabanu and The Breadwinner have very different plots and themes but the connec...more As I began Shabanu, daughter of the wind I had high hopes for the story. The book is a 1990 Newbery Honor Book and it came highly recommended by two close friends. Last week I read The Breadwinner which takes place in present day Afghanistan interestingly Shabanu takes place in present day Pakistan. I hadn’t planned the correlation when I decided on either book but it was interesting to read them one after the other. Shabanu and The Breadwinner have very different plots and themes but the connections with family and culture are similar in both books. It is interesting to see how different authors explain similar cultures that are both so different from the one’s familiar to us in America.
Shabanu, daughter of the wind is about a Shabanu, a twelve year old girl, who lives in the dessert of Pakistan with her family. Shabanu’s family are nomadic camel breeders. Shabanu is the youngest of two girls, she loves her older sister Phulan. Phulan is physically more mature than Shabanu. Shabanu wonders in embarrassment about her sister’s body, the body of women, and what her body will become as she matures. The story takes us as Shabanu journeys from a carefree girl who would willing spend all day in the dunes with her beloved camels to a mature young women who knows love and loss.
I liked the book and one of the biggest reasons was that I can relate to Shabanu’s love for her camels. I grew up with a love for horses much of the same. I know everyone will not relate to Shabanu’s love for her camels the way I do and there are other reasons to fall in love with Shabanu, daughter of the wind. Suzanne Fisher Staples captivates her readers with lots of background and deep insight into Shabanu’s family, their relationships with one another, and the way of life for the people of Cholistan. The first three quarters of the novel lay the foundation for the climax in the last one-fourth. My attention was kept in the first three quarters but I kept wondering if “anything” was really going to happen. I liked the book but it wasn’t as good as the high expectation I had for it. I would recommend it to other readers who have similar interests as myself. I enjoy reading about other cultures and different lifestyles. I don’t think it’s a book that everyone would love. If a reader can relate to Shabanu I think there’s a good chance they would enjoy reading it. If readers find a character like Shabanu difficult to relate to then I think they might enjoy another book more. Shabanu is a strong heroine character with a mind of her own in a culture where having an opinion as a female isn’t necessarily sought-after.
(less)

like · see review

Oct 29, 2012 Courtney rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: day-to-day-life, family, racism-prejudice-bigotry, ya-fiction, middle-east

12-year old Shabanu lives with her parents and sister in the Cholistan Desert of Pakistan, where her father raises camels. She and her older sister, Phulan, are eagerly anticipating their upcoming marriages. However, their futures are drastically altered when an incident with a "Wealthy and powerful landowner" causes the death of Phulans' fiancee.

I thought this was a really good book. Shabanus' character is very likeable, and I was really wishing there was some way to fix the situation. I though...more

1 like · like · see review

Jul 02, 2012 Claire rated it 1 of 5 stars

Shabanu is described as being strong-willed, but I could not find that quality in her during this book. She did not stand up for herself or try to change her family's decisions about her future.
Also, there was no growth in the character of Shabanu. Nothing about her life changes through out the story. She seemed so devastated by the lose of her camel, but nothing about changed because of it. If she loved a camel so much that she could not bear for it to be sold, even for her sister's dowry, t...more

like · see review

Jun 10, 2012 Misha rated it 4 of 5 stars

I always like to read a book that gives insight into a new culture or way of life. This book was about a young girl, growing up in a dessert in Pakistan, who's family sold/bred camels for a living. The tale, weaved around this background, told a story of cultural customs for women/girls and expectations. At the age of 12, Shabanu was already engaged to be married to her cousin. Her sister would marry first, for she was older and would marry the brother of that same cousin. Because of certain eve...more

like · see review

Jul 14, 2011 Daryl Leyesa rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I find this a very insightful novel about the lives of rural women in Pakistan, especially the girl children and the limited choices/freedom they have.

But then it is not just the negative images but also the positive images that have caused my throat to lump and my eyes to mist. For one, the warmth and wisdom of women can be reflected in the stillness of camels continuing "to ruminate with their eyes shut, content as old women in front of a fire.” I believe the image of women with their eyes sh...more

like · see review

Jun 16, 2011 Becky Ginther rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, multicultural, realistic-fiction

I will admit that I had a really hard time getting into it. The pace was extremely slow until about page 150, when the action started. I also wonder if American teenagers would really be able to relate in any way to this book. Though some might be able to make the connection of Shabanu's desire for freedom to their own lives, so many of the details seemed a little difficult to relate to. After all, we're talking about a culture where girls get married as soon as they get their first period and a...more

3 likes · like · see review

Apr 02, 2011 Anstjfla rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book is about a young girl named Shabanu living in the desert areas of Pakistan. She lives with her sister, Phulan, and her parents and grandfather, leading a nomadic life caring for camels. The title of this book, Daughter of the wind, describes Shabanu herself. But this book is not about freedom. It is more like the restricted life of women in the Islamic region and strong females that withstand all. In the end, Shabanu is to marry a man of 50 to let Phulan, her older sister marry whom sh...more

like · see review

Feb 14, 2011 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. I read the book "Shabanu"! It is about a 12 year old girl and her family, her family breeds and takes care of camels. her father and her go to Sibi to sell most of their camels so that they can get enough money for her sister Pulan's wedding, and if theres money left than for Shabanu's as well. They girls are forced to marry at the age of 13!! Its a really bad thing. and alot of the time the boy i either a little bit or a lot older. Pulan is getting married to hamired but then he dies the day be...more

like · see review

Feb 04, 2011 Vanessa rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

May 18, 2010 Al_ryanleagre rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mc-literature

Shabanu is the story of a desert family and their struggles to endure life in an arid, dangerous world. Shabanu and her sister Phulan have reached the ripe age where they can now be married to men, but their marriages are pre-arranged. Most of the story focuses on Phulan's upcoming marriage, all the while suriving the challanges of the desert. They are a nomadic people, and are forced to travel whenever the rain stops providing for them. All is normal until tragedy strikes the family, and Shaban...more

like · see review

Apr 06, 2011 Chelsie Hamilton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 21-30

Shabanu is a girl of the desert. She and her family raise camel. It is a simple life, but one that brings her happiness. Her sister is betrothed and will soon wed. Shabanu is to marry the brother of her sister's soon to be husband. Although she and her sister don't exactly see eye to eye, it will be nice to be able to have family in her new home when she comes of age. Life is simple. Until there is a confrontation and her sister's fiancé is killed. Her sister then marries the man, really a boy s...more

like · see review

Mar 29, 2013 Inna rated it 4 of 5 stars

I picked up this book because in JHS, all my girl friends read it and somehow, my class was stuck with "Island of the Blue Dolphins." I caught up with them years later and though I understand why it would be read in JHS, I'm glad I waited to read it much later to appreciate it. It was very beautifully written with the imagery popping in and out of my head through the writer's words. Shabanu was perfect in that she wasn't perfect at all. The characters came to life through Staples's writing and I...more

like · see review

Aug 31, 2012 Mindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2012

I really like this book. I think this is the 3rd time I've read it. It is so interesting learning about different cultures, and I love learning about them through the voices of young people.

Shabanu's story is interesting, enlightening, and engrossing. It is amazing how human emotions can be so universal, even amid very different cultures. Shabanu feels love, rebellion, independence, restriction, loyalty, and courage, just like all of us do - that is what makes this story so relatable (is that a...more

like · see review

Feb 25, 2010 Ch_jank-caporale rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: realistic-fiction

Shabanu is the youngest of two daughters in a family that raises camels in the deserts of Pakistan. She and her older sister Phulan are both betrothed to distant cousins who own land far away from their parents. Unlike Phulan, Shabanu is independent and strong-willed; her parents worry that she will not become a proper wife and feel she must learn to obey and to hold her tongue. Accepting her duty to her family is essential if she is to have a place in it. But just as she accepts her role, somet...more Shabanu is the youngest of two daughters in a family that raises camels in the deserts of Pakistan. She and her older sister Phulan are both betrothed to distant cousins who own land far away from their parents. Unlike Phulan, Shabanu is independent and strong-willed; her parents worry that she will not become a proper wife and feel she must learn to obey and to hold her tongue. Accepting her duty to her family is essential if she is to have a place in it. But just as she accepts her role, something awful and unanticipated happens and a new role is chosen for her, one that is even more difficult to accept...
There are times while reading this book that I forgot what time period I was reading about. It is a current picture of present day life in parts of Pakistan, and we learn a great deal about the culture, the hardships, and the survival skills of a Cholistani family. In fact, so much time is spent drawing a picture of Shabanu's life before "the wedding" that when the conflict finally presents itself the reader is riveted to the page to see what will happen to Shabanu, to learn who she will become.
This book provides a rare glimpse into a different, though contemporary world. Unfortunately, it doesn't eliminate any of the stereotypes about the "backwardness" of Middle Eastern families or the "mysogynist" interpretations of Muslim culture. Yet the characters are so likeable and the life is so real, it is hard to separate ourselves from Shabanu's problems. I could envision some possible text connections with Romeo and Juliet in so far as discussing arranged marriages, and the fact that they are still in use in other cultures. While I wouldn't let it represent Middle Eastern cultures in general, it does realistically represent one specific experience in the Middle East. Written by Suzanne Fisher Staples, who worked with the nomads of the Cholistan desert in Pakistan while a UPI correspondent, it is simple, beautiful, and eloquent. I'd recommend this for middle to high school students. (There is also a sequel titled, Haveli, which I have not yet read.)(less)

1 like · like · see review

May 05, 2010 Winddancer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: middle-grades-5-8, young-adult

This book was frustrating for me to read and I didn’t really enjoy it. I went to high school with someone who was from Pakistan, and she told me much of what her culture was like. It boggled my mind that she willingly accepted her father’s beatings and that she was perfectly okay with marrying the man her family picked for her. At 15, I didn’t even know if I wanted to get married, and here she was talking about the sons she would have.

Reading this book was very similar to talking with my classma...more

like · see review

Aug 06, 2012 Sara rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Interesting story, but so depressing and senseless. I suppose that's what the author was going for as a picture of what life for Pakistani girls is/was like, per the interview with the author at the end. Fisher-Staples lived in Pakistan, and the story grew out of personal experiences the women shared with her.

That said, I found this title on a Waldorf student reading list for grades 7-8. The stoning and beating of girls and women. Murder. Threats of rape. Obedience at all costs. Sex. Arranged ma...more

like · see review

Dec 08, 2011 Erin Forson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shabanu Daughter of the Wind
By Suzanne Fischer Staples
One of the things it is important to do as an educated teen is to learn about cultures other than your own. Knowing about the way other people live makes you more empathetic, or understanding, of those who don't look like you in the mirror, and a better human being over all. Shabanu Daughter of the Wind, by Suzanne Fischer Staples is one of those books that will expand your horizons, help you to relate to others, and is simply a fabulous read...more

like · see review

Feb 01, 2012 Roger DeBlanck rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-books

Suzanne Fisher Staples creates a lasing piece of YA fiction with Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind. The character of Shabanu is well-developed and portrayed. She has a feisty, independent spirit that gets her into trouble as she can be defiant and disobedient, very dangerous characteristics for a woman in her Middle Eastern culture. The book has many well-constructed characters, all of whom Staples places within a story with escalating conflict. The reader learns about the lifestyle of the culture,...more

like · see review

Jul 04, 2012 Josiah rated it 3 of 5 stars

"Phulan, your beauty is great. But beauty holds only part of a man, and that for just so long. Keep some of yourself hidden. You can lavish love and praise on him and work hard by his side...But the secret is keeping your innermost beauty, the secrets of your soul, locked in your heart so that he must always reach out to you for it."

—Sharma, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, P. 217

You can add Suzanne Fisher Staples to the list of authors I've discovered whose writing I absolutely love. Her style...more "Phulan, your beauty is great. But beauty holds only part of a man, and that for just so long. Keep some of yourself hidden. You can lavish love and praise on him and work hard by his side...But the secret is keeping your innermost beauty, the secrets of your soul, locked in your heart so that he must always reach out to you for it."

—Sharma, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, P. 217

You can add Suzanne Fisher Staples to the list of authors I've discovered whose writing I absolutely love. Her style is sprawling and spacious, relaxed when that is the tone called for but able to turn on a dime and become very intense, too, within a surprisingly short space. There were times in Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind that the beginning of a paragraph seemed perfectly languid and calm, but by the paragraph's end all chaos had broken out, and Shabanu's serious, highly structured world descended into disarray. Suzanne Fisher Staples writes with moving compassion and total respect for her Pakistani characters, not holding up their behavior to American cultural standards, but rather recognizing that the way society works in the Middle East is very different. There are no overtones of judgment on the actions of the characters, even when those actions seem uncaring, cruel or overtly oppressive by American sensibilities. It may be hard to swallow the lack of appreciation, objectified personal status and absence of any real control over their own lives that the female Pakistanis have to endure in deference to their male counterparts in this book, but I think that we can all identify to some extent with being controlled and mistreated, and this sympathy allows us to draw closer to the characters and better understand their feelings about the strict Muslim culture in which they live. Regardless of the vast differences between American life and that of the Pakistani Muslims of which Shabanu is a member by birth, I found that this book resounded deeply in my soul, the echoes of its sweet strains reminding me even after turning the final page just how much I have emotionally in common with Shabanu. This life can be rough no matter where one is born, managing everyone else's expectations for you while trying to keep in stride with where you think your heart's calling you to go, and there are times when outside pressure coalesces to push you down a path that's wrong for you before you even get a chance to find out what you really wanted. Shabanu's life is almost destined to proceed down such an incorrect path, in a culture that expects her to be married by the time she turns thirteen and has no intention of letting the choice of who the bridegroom will be fall to her. It's a hard thing to be valued by society only for the productivity of one's body, the pursuit of one's own happiness pushed aside as something that should be no more than an afterthought. Yet this is the culture in which Shabanu lives, a paradigm that many of us can relate to at least partly in our own lives, and there's little to do but work within the culture and try to pursue one's dreams and happiness in its framework. It's surprising, the places in which a happy ending can be found.

Though she is but eleven years old and her older sister Phulan thirteen, Shabanu (pronounced "Shah-bah-noo) is nearly at the stage of life when a girl in her culture begins serious planning for her wedding day. Phulan is already set to be married within the next several months, and Shabanu's own bridegroom has been chosen long ago: he is the younger brother of the seventeen-year-old who is to marry Phulan, and Shabanu wonders what he looks like now. All she remembers from what she saw of him years ago is that he was a boy with funny-looking ears poking out from beneath his hat, as if he hadn't yet grown to fit them. The boy is fifteen now, though, and surely grown taller and stronger, but will Shabanu's future bridegroom have finally grown into his physique, or will he still have the bodily awkwardness that marked his earlier years?

Life in the Cholistan Desert can seem grueling and very unfair, as can growing up in a strict Muslim family that never gives Shabanu much slack (even though her parents' treatment of her is actually quite permissive in comparison to that of most Muslim families), but Shabanu learns to live with the severe restrictions surrounding her and blossom nonetheless. Life for an eleven-year-old girl in Pakistan isn't all serious, after all; Shabanu is given the opportunity to play and to take the family's animals out on short excursions, exercising both herself and them as the volatile desert weather permits. Even Phulan is sometimes allowed to join Shabanu, though Phulan is considered a growing young woman now and no longer a child who needs to frolic and play to be happy. Nevertheless, it is when Shabanu and Phulan are riding camels out on their own that they finally run into trouble too serious to be sidestepped or ignored, trouble that could undo all the careful preparation of the last dozen years for the girls' futures and put their entire family in the path of grave danger. The trouble could hardly be called Shabanu's fault, but in Pakistani culture these matters are viewed so differently than in America, and it can be very easy for a young girl to be saddled with the blame when well-laid plans go awry and her family's future is placed in major jeopardy. Is it possible that the future for which Shabanu has waited so long has already gone up in smoke, drifting out of her grasp and fading to nothingness before she ever had the chance to hold and cherish it?

"No matter what happens, you have you. That is the important thing. And as long as you have you, there is always a choice."

—Sharma, P. 217

While there is good to point out about virtually every area of this book, I think that what will stay with me most indelibly years after having read it is the influence of Sharma on the story. In a Pakistani nation and culture that seems to downplay the value of females as anything but potential wives and mothers, Sharma exists freely on the outskirts of society with her daughter, Fatima. Sharma may live by her own rules, operating outside the boundaries of traditional Muslim culture that bind most Pakistanis so intransigently, but she has a surprisingly keen understanding of that culture, and of what it means to be a girl under such conditions. Her advice to Phulan on the morning of her wedding, though it appears to go over Phulan's preoccupied head, is as heartfelt, genuine and affecting as I could have imagined, as if they were words spoken right to me just when I needed to hear them most. Sharma has a way of speaking truth at the exact moment when it needs to be heard, whether or not the listener is prepared to accept and internalize it. "Fold your happiness deep in your heart," she tells Shabanu, as the troubled girl awaits the day that will change both her and Phulan's lives forever. Sharma speaks not merely to pacify, or to feed into stereotypes about gender roles and the marriage system in Pakistan, but to prepare Shabanu for the battle coming up just ahead, not worrying about future struggles that may or may not occur after that point. Shabanu's options within her family's Muslim society may be limited, but Sharma's wise council shows her that it's a life that can be managed if she's willing, and though the many tomorrows to come will undoubtedly bring their own worries, Shabanu can be ready for whatever happens by using her intelligence and making good choices today. And if all else fails, Sharma's unconventional lifestyle is always right there for Shabanu to run to, offering protection and comfort from an uncertain world.

I'm not sure what goals Suzanne Fisher Staples had in mind while writing Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind. Whatever they were, though, I have to believe that she was supremely successful in accomplishing them. A book that sensitively introduces readers to the ins and outs of a vastly different culture, tells a well-plotted story with plenty of twists and turns to keep even those with very short attention spans satisfied, and gracefully leads us in a procession of wisdom and understanding toward a greater realization of the meaning of our own lives, is a book that I would read anytime, and one surely deserving of the Newbery Honor bestowed upon Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by the 1990 Newbery Committee. I'm left with a strong desire to read the author's other books, as well as the feeling that I got even more out of the experience of reading this book than I realize. I highly recommend Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind, and would consider giving it three and a half stars. (less)

like · see review

Oct 21, 2012 Jessi rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shabanu
Suzanne Fisher Staples

Imagine if you had to leave your family, your life, and everything you know behind, at age 13? Would you fight? Even if it might mean death?
Shabanu is a girl who has always loved and admired her older sister Phulan, but her favorite person had always been her aunt - the woman who ran away from her abusive husband, the woman who stood up for what she believed in.
All her life she has known that, at age 13, she will be married to Murad, her boyishly handsome cousin. Th...more

like · see review

Dec 21, 2011 Cosmic Tree rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, fiction

I was completely spellbound by this book. It is well written and beautiful, and the setting and characters are described so well that I really felt like I was in the Pakistani desert. My heart wrenched for Shabanu and her family, and my emotions just flew with the story. This is a young adult book, but I read it as an adult and was still very happy with it.

At the end, I was left wondering what would happen. It gripped me and kept me turning pages so that I read it in three days. This book, about...more

like · see review

Apr 19, 2009 Cindy Benabderrahman rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Ages 10+

Shelves: books-4-children, edu-543-lit-4-children-project

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. SUMMARY
Shabanu is the youngest in a family of “desert people” blessed only with daughters in male-dominated Cholistan, Pakistan. This is a bildungsroman, depicting the time in which Shabanu comes of age. She loves her life in the desert with her family. Her chore every day is to take care of the camels. She is especially fond of Guluband, a camel who dances and wears glass bracelets. In a land where the little water they have dwindles each day, Shabanu goes one last time to the fair with her fat...more SUMMARY
Shabanu is the youngest in a family of “desert people” blessed only with daughters in male-dominated Cholistan, Pakistan. This is a bildungsroman, depicting the time in which Shabanu comes of age. She loves her life in the desert with her family. Her chore every day is to take care of the camels. She is especially fond of Guluband, a camel who dances and wears glass bracelets. In a land where the little water they have dwindles each day, Shabanu goes one last time to the fair with her father to sell camels—where only men and children go. After the fair, the family begins to plan her sister’s wedding to the brother of the man Shabanu is promised to marry the next year. However, her whole world gets turned upside down when things do not go as planned and Hamir, her sister’s betrothed, dies. In the family feud that ensues, it is decided that Shabanu’s sister will marry Murad, the man Shabanu was to marry, and that Shabanu will become the fourth wife of a wealthy landowner who has fallen in love with her. The book ends abruptly with Shabanu beginning her menstrual cycle, the signal that she has come of age and that it is time to plan her wedding.

EVALUATION
This is am important piece of young adult literature because it feel honest, which is a quality more of the available multicultural literature needs. This book thwarts the stereotypical aspects we so often find, and instead shows Shabanu’s Pakistani people, her desert nomadic culture, and the families who live it as a proud, hardworking, family-oriented people who have strong emotions, dreams, and aspirations. While this book may not be suitable for those with reading comprehension issues, as it is full to the brim with unfamiliar names, concepts, and ideas (but for which there is a glossary at the beginning of the book, so it might be a good tool to use for teaching active reading strategies). I feel that this book would be appropriate from 4th through 12th grade, with differentiated instruction. It is full of real, believable characters based on real people known to the author during time spent in Cholistan.

(less)

like · see review

Feb 14, 2012 Dawn added it

Dawn States
Multicultural

Shabanu is a young desert girl growing up in a culture where to disobey the rules of her family is a dangerous thing to do. She is a spirited and intelligent teenager struggling to keep these qualities and still do what is expected of her from her family. Shabanu loves her life in the desert with her camels, but this time is coming to an end when her older sister is to be married and next Shabanu will be married. Their marriages are already arranged, but when things go t...more

1 like · like · see review

Aug 28, 2012 Nicole rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult-fiction

Makes me think that all books I'd have to read for school at this age have some kind of animal dying or meeting some devastating fate. Ugh. Always gets some tears from me. As for the main girl of the story, I liked her well enough though I didn't find her the independent, courageous individual that the back cover synopsis would have me believe. Perhaps working within the confines of the culture she's apart of what we got was all that could reasonably be expected...but I don't know enough to accu...more

like · see review

Feb 17, 2011 Brooke rated it 1 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

like · see review

« previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 … 99 100 next »

new topic
Discuss This Book

There are no discussion topics on this book yet. Be the first to start one »

Recommend it | Stats | Recent status updates

combine
Other Editions (27)

More editions...

Genres

Young Adult

154 users

Historical Fiction

58 users

Cultural > Pakistan

22 users

Cultural

22 users

Realistic Fiction

19 users

Young Adult > Teen

16 users

Young Adult > Coming Of Age

12 users

Family

9 users

Childrens

9 users

Cultural > International

8 users

See top shelves...

Readers also enjoyed similar books

About Suzanne Fisher Staples

Suzanne Fisher Staples is the author of six books addressed to children and adolescents. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (U.S.A.), she grew up in a small community around Northwestern Pennsylvania. She had three siblings, a sister and two brothers. Suzanne went to Lakeland High School in Scott Township, Pennsylvania. Later, she graduated from Cedar Crest College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. She...more

More about Suzanne Fisher Staples...

Books by Suzanne Fisher Staples

More…

Share This Book

Facebook Twitter Your website

Trivia About Shabanu: Daughter...

1 trivia question

More quizzes & trivia...

Quotes from Shabanu: Daughter Of T...

“But beauty holds only part of a man, and that for just so long. Keep some of yourself hidden. You can lavish love and praise on him and work hard by his side...But the secret is keeping your innermost beauty, the secrets of your soul, locked in your heart so that he must always reach out to you for it.” — 7 people liked it

More quotes…

title link	preview: Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind
avg rating	preview: Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind Goodreads rating: 3.74 (3832 ratings)
small image	preview: click here [close]
med image	preview: click here [close]
BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219563.Shabanu?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348885927l/219563.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/219563.Shabanu?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples[/url]

Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (Shabanu #1)

Friend Reviews

Community Reviews

Share This Book

Share This Book on Your Website