Shabanu : Daughter of the Wind

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Summary: Shabanu is a wonderful story portraying an undiscovered life
Review: Shabanu is a wonderful story, portraying a life unknown by many. Its a book that is requiring of a moderate maturaty level for young adults. Its very intriguing to read about how Shababu had to escape her forced cultural background. Although a little bit slow at certain points, It is very well worth the read, for those both young adults and adults. I have no doubt, in the next few weeks you will be picking up a copy of Haveli, the sequel.

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Summary: Not the best
Review: In my opinion this book was a dicrase to all books. Although it gave points to different kinds of religions,people, and cultures, this book was horrible and boring.This book is about a young girl traveling through different places to prepare for her sisters wedding. Shee goes through different obstacles that makes everything harder and more difficult to overcomplesh. Trying to obey her parents and concentrating on the world in front of her everything turns in to a disater. This is not the best book to read for a child of any age(not trying to insult Ms.Staples). To me in my own opinion I did not enjoy the book at all I do not recommend it and it was very boring. So before you decide to but this book read the good and BAD editorial reviews. I dont give this book any stars I gave one because I had to put at least one to post my review.

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Summary: WARNING TO PARENTS
Review: WARNING to parents--please read this book before allowing your child to read it. If it were made into a movie, it would receive a rating of "R." There are vivid depictions of breast development (complete with a self-touching/exploration scene), camels mating, thoughts of being with a man while self-touching, a discussion of how to please a man sexually, and a father beating his daughter until she is bloody. The plot turns on an almost- rape, also vividly described. This is being recommended by major Social Studies and Literature curriculum publishers. Fortunately, I read it before my daughter was allowed to read it in her 7th grade class and found it to be inappropriate for her. I suggest you do the same.

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Summary: oh god
Review: Shabanu is a wonderful book, full of heartfelt emotion and cultural details that give it a true feeling of reality. However, in both Shabanu and its sequel, Haveli, I felt somehow deprived of an ending. I admire Staples' homage to the reality of life--we are not garunteed a neat, tie-up-the-loose-ends solution to our problems. However, when I read a book I want to know how everything turns out. I felt Staples closed the curtain on Shabanu's story a little too soon, a little too abruptly.

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Summary: informative
Review: Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Staples
Review
I thought this book was detailed, and had interesting insights of the roles of women in not just Pakistani society, but many cultures around the world. As I watched Shabanu grow, I realized the rites of passage in her life and saw immense change at each deciding point of her life. However, I also thought it was rather boring, and not a "fun" book, nor one I would suggest to someone who was looking for a gripping read.
If someone is interested in Middle Eastern nomadic culture, this would be better then a history book, because it has a plot, and characters that have feelings and can be enjoyed. This book's characters were the main enjoyable feature of Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind.


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Summary: Shabanu Is So Good!
Review: I imagine that had I been assigned "Shabanu" in school (say, Junior High or High School) I would have loathed it intensely. Please don't misunderstand this statement. Having read this book on my own I've found it to be infinitely interesting, deep, and touching. Author Suzanne Fisher Staples has written a book that every kid should WANT to read. The problem is, if a child does not want to read it, this book must be incredibly painful to get through. At its best "Shabanu" conjures up a world that few Americans have ever witnessed firsthand. If you think you know an adolescent that could understand "Shabanu"'s understated beauty, definitely consider buying it for them. But please don't make this book required reading. Forcing people to read this tale is the perfect way to make it widely despised.

In the Cholistan Desert of Pakistan lives a family of desert dwellers. Daughters Phulan and Shabanu attend their family's camels alongside their father, mother, grandfather, aunt, and young male cousins. Life in the desert can be difficult, but Shabanu wouldn't have it any other way. She loves tending the camels alongside her father. With her older sister's impending marriage coming up, Shabanu knows that soon her little family will be torn apart. Most of the book concentrates on what it means to live in the Cholistan, often at the mercy of the duststorms and monsoons that help or hurt the region. It isn't until page 191 that the real drama of the book comes into play. When a tragedy hurts Phulan's potential husband, it's up to Shabanu to sacrifice herself for the good of the family. The question becomes, will she do it?

First of all, in spite of its Newbery Honor Award, this book probably should have received a Printz Award instead for young adult literature. Unless the kids that read through this puppy understand what rape and sex are, they're going to get a little confused with the plot. Best to recommend this book to those kids from sixth grade onwards. I was a little amazed by how gutsy author Staples was with this small novel. This isn't "Catherine Called Birdy", though at first glance the plots may seem similar. For Shabanu, her choices in life are severely limited. But Staples isn't pointing to the people who perpetuate child marriages and limited female freedoms crying, "Evil!". This is a balanced portrait of a culture entirely unlike our own, yet with significant similarities. What's so impressive is that Staples is able to give us a greater understanding of Shabanu's world. It comes to the point where you realize that Shabanu's fury at her position in life is impossible to shift from.

But as I was saying before, never ever assign this book in a classroom. Some children's books are custom made for class discussions. "Holes" by Louis Sacher, for instance. "Shabanu" is incredibly well written and thought out. But all the beauty of the text is completely reliant on the reader's willing participation. If a kid is forced to read this book they're going to be bored. They'll think the book is slow moving and not exciting in the least. This is not necessarily the case, if you stick with it. Still, I urge you to assign it only to those kids who are comfortable reading books that are filled with descriptions and long passages without dialogue. "Shabanu" is a beautiful piece of work. And there is no better way to ruin the experience of reading it than by forcing kids to do so.

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Summary: Beautifully written and bittersweet...
Review: This sensitively-written, bittersweet coming-of-age story is set in the Cholistan desert of present day Pakistan. Shabanu, the second daughter in a family of camel-herding nomads, is forced to curb her independent spirit and adopt the traditional Muslim tenets of behavior practiced by her people, yet her family is also warm, protective, and deeply loving. At the age of twelve Shabanu is already engaged to be married to a young cousin she barely knows, but during a visit to the farmlands on the edge of the desert, where her older sister's wedding is about to be held, a violent event shatters the prospects of the whole family. Problems are resolved, but with one tragic result: Shabanu's parents must terminate the engagement to her cousin and promise her to a landowner old enough to be her father. In the end, Shabanu draws on reserves of inner strength to come to a decision about her future. The conclusion leaves the door open for a sequel (the equally moving "Haveli," written in the third person rather than the first person narration of "Shabanu"). This novel, which is now required reading in some middle school humanities classes, is educational and enjoyable, with subject matter suitable for readers 11 and up. (Some references to child marriage and sexuality may be difficult for younger readers to understand.) The characters of Shabanu's parents and other relatives are richly drawn, with an avoidance of the stereotyping often applied to Muslims and traditional Islam.

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Summary: This book needs a wind to blow it along...
Review: I am in the midst of reading "Shabanu" for an English summer project and I am throroughly disappointed with this novel. Shabanu, the narrator, is static and one-dimensional; a very boring and very annoying main character for a novel to be based upon. The novel reads very slowly, never going anywhere. I can only wonder why this novel would be given to an Sophomore Level 4 Honors English class to read. One major factor that describes how slow this novel is the fact that the professional review of this novel on amazon.com tells of a story that has yet to happen where I am in the book; that is, more than halfway through "Shabanu" and less than 100 pages to the end. I cannot wait for my future English teacher to ask us how we felt about this novel. I already have an answer prepared: "I learned how not to write a novel." Don't waste your money, time, or exercise in reaching for "Shabanu" off the shelf.