Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind

This first novel is, on several counts, one of the most exciting YA booksto appear recently. Staples is so steeped in her story and its Pakistanisetting that the use of a first-person voice for a desert child ringsauthentic–the voice is clear, consistent, and convincing. Shabanu and hersister are to marry brothers as soon as they all come of age. But she willeventually lose her betrothed and be promised to a wealthy landowner to settlea feud. The richness and tragedy of a whole culture are reflected in the fateof this girl’s family. Through an involving plot Staples has given readersinsight into lives totally different from their own, but into emotionsresoundingly familiar.”–(starred) “Bulletin, Center for Children’s Books.