Mud City

Compare and contrast Peshawar and Kabul. How are these cities portrayed as similar or different? What memories of Afghanistan does Peshawar evoke for Shauzia?

Compare and contrast Mud City with the other novels in The Breadwinner series. How does Shauzia evolve over the course of the novels? How has her outlook about home changed when she returns to Afghanistan at the end of Mud City?

Discuss the symbolic role of clothing. How does Shauzia use it to navigate gender identity? What other symbolic roles does clothing have in the novel?

Compare and contrast Mud City with Shooting Kabul, another middle grade novel about an Afghan child post-9/11. What characteristics do Shauzia and Fadi, the protagonist of Shooting Kabul, share? What does the city represent for each of them, and how to do they manage their displacement?

Mud City is an example of social justice fiction for young adults, a genre that aims to raise awareness about real-world issues. Discuss how Ellis balances the need to realistically portray the brutal conditions of refugee life with the narrative conventions of a young adult novel.

While Shauzia is the protagonist, she encounters other children, such as the street boys, Tom and Barbara’s sons, and Farzana. Analyze how these secondary characters cope with their circumstances and what Shauzia learns from them on her journey.

Analyze the novel’s commentary on the roles of adults and children in the novel. How does the refugee camp alter the traditional relationship between adults and children? How does gender inform these relationships? Use examples from the text in your response.

How does Ellis use narrative pacing to emphasize turning points in Shauzia’s story? Identify three critical moments and how the narrative structure highlights their significance.