Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. The novel is set in Afghanistan. On which continent is Afghanistan located? What languages are spoken there? What religion is primarily practiced? What are some notable historical events that have happened in Afghanistan?

Teaching Suggestion: This question orients students with the geographical setting of the novel: a war-torn, early 21st-century Afghanistan. A landlocked country in Central Asia, Afghanistan has a rich history and has been important for transit between European, Middle Eastern, and Asian empires. The primary languages are Dari, a form of Persian, and Pashto, the language commonly used by the Pashtun, an ethnolinguistic group. The majority of the people in Afghanistan practice Islam. Students may be aware of recent political developments in Afghanistan, including the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Taliban government’s takeover, and the withdrawal of US troops. Ellis’s novel begins in the aftermath of the Taliban invasion and during the initial airstrikes on Afghanistan as Parvana and her companions navigate their childhood in a war-torn country. This question, as well as the resource below, relates to the activity.