Shabanu

Daughter of the Wind

by Suzanne Fisher Staples

This novel set in the Cholistan Desert of Pakistan features Shabanu, an 11-year-old girl who is the youngest member of her family. Shabanu and her sister, Phulan, have already been promised in marriage to two brothers, and although Shabanu knows it is her familial duty to marry, she doesn't want to give up her freedom and her work tending her father's camels. Despite Shabanu's efforts to be a good Muslim daughter, her parents continually warn her that her independent streak could get her in trouble unless she learns how to control herself. As the family prepares for Phulan's wedding, a tragic encounter with a wealthy landowner forces Shabanu to sacrifice her freedom to protect her family. Will Shabanu be able to let go of her dreams to uphold her family's honor?

Available editions of Shabanu

	9780440238560, Paperback, Laurel Leaf, 2003 $1.75 (Used, Acceptable) Other copies of 9780440238560

	9780613722605, Prebinding, Bt Bound, 2003 None currently available

	9780394848150, Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books, 1989 $1.00 (Used - Acceptable) Other copies of 9780394848150

	9780679810308, Paperback, Random House Childrens Books, 1991 $1.00 (Tight, no spine crease) Other copies of 9780679810308

	9780394948157, Reinforced Hardcover, Random House Childrens Books, 1989 $1.00 (Very Good ) Other copies of 9780394948157

Publisher Notes

"This first novel is, on several counts, one of the most exciting YA books to appear recently. Staples is so steeped in her story and its Pakistani setting that the use of a first-person voice for a desert child rings authentic--the voice is clear, consistent, and convincing. Shabanu and her sister are to marry brothers as soon as they all come of age. But she will eventually lose her betrothed and be promised to a wealthy landowner to settle a feud. The richness and tragedy of a whole culture are reflected in the fate of this girl's family. Through an involving plot Staples has given readers insight into lives totally different from their own, but into emotions resoundingly familiar."--(starred) Bulletin, Center for Children's Books.

Synopses

When eleven-year old Shabanu, the daughter of a nomad in the Cholistan Desert of present-day Pakistan, is pledged in marriage to an older man whose money will bring prestige to the family, she must either accept the decision, as is the custom, or risk the consequences of defying her father's wishes.

First Line

Phulan and I step gingerly through the prickly gray camel thorn, each of us balancing a red clay pot filled with water on our heads.

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