Bacha Posh - girl into boy

USA Writer

Nadia Hashimi

One Half From the East

HarperCollins 2016   $16.99pb 256pp

ISBN 978 0 0625 7219 6

Themes: Afghanistan/ Bacha Posh/ Family life/ School life

Set in modern day Afghanistan this is a poignant and involving tale. Obayda is only young and enjoys the things most small girls do but when her father loses his leg in a bomb explosion she is forced to be strong and her family has to move to a small village in order to survive. Obayda becomes Obayd and is part of the old Afghan custom of bacha posh. This is when a girl is ‘turned’ into a boy to change the fortunes of a family or household.  See below. This is the first novel for young people written by Nadia Hashimi  (she has written many for adults) and she will be reading from it in Christchurch this Saturday August 27^th at The Word Festival – Google for details.

Year 6 up/ Age 10 up

Bacha posh is a cultural practice in parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan in which some families without sons will pick a daughter to live and behave as a boy.