Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind

The first book in Suzanne Fisher Staples’s series about a young woman coming of age in rural Pakistan, Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind (1989) won the Newbery Honor in 1990. Since its release, the young adult novel has been criticized for being out of touch with contemporary Muslim culture and marital practices.

Eleven-year-old Shabanu lives in the desert of Pakistan near the Indian border. Her family raises camels, and Shabanu feels a special connection to the animals, considering them her best friends. Shabanu is not interested in marriage, but she is engaged to Murad, a friend of the family. Their marriage will take place after Shabanu’s older sister Phulan marries Murad’s brother Hamir.

One of the family’s camels dies giving birth; Shabanu saves the baby, naming him Mithoo. She nurses Mithoo herself, and he grows up very attached to her. When the time comes to sell some of the herd, Shabanu accompanies her father, Dadi, to the town of Sibi. They travel in a caravan for safety. Along the way, they encounter men who are searching for a girl who eloped without permission. They briefly threaten the caravan but eventually allow them to pass.



In Sibi, Dadi sells the camels for enough money to pay Phulan’s dowry. While buying items for the dowry, a shawl seller gives Shabanu an old and precious shawl because he sees her inner beauty. After they return home with the dowry, Shabanu helps the family prepare a new generation of camels to take the place of the older animals they sold.

Shabanu’s extended family meets before Phulan’s wedding, separating into groups of men and women. Shabanu likes being with her female relatives, especially her aunt Sharma and cousin Fatima whom the other women gossip about. Sharma has left an abusive husband and Fatima is still unmarried at the age of sixteen, both of which are seen as somewhat scandalous.

On the way home, Shabanu’s family is caught in a massive sandstorm. Her grandfather is critically injured and knows that he will die soon. He asks to be buried at Fort Derawar where he served as a soldier when he was a young man. The family undertakes the journey with the dying grandfather and buries him. After Grandfather’s death, they travel to Mehrabpur, where Phulan’s wedding will take place.



During the preparations for the wedding, the family’s landlord Nazir Mohammed plans to kidnap Phulan and Shabanu to give to his bachelor friends. The women of the family flee into the desert to escape, while Dadi and the men stay behind to prevent Nazir from following them.

In the desert, the women encounter a group of Desert Rangers who offer to escort them back to Mehrabpur, but they decide to stay until they have confirmed that it is safe in the city. Eventually, Dadi arrives with Murad. They explain that Hamir was killed fighting Nazir.

The family seeks an intermediary to help them find a peaceful solution with Nazir. Eventually, it is decided that the feud will be put to rest by integrating the two families. Phulan will marry Murad rather than Hamir, and Shabanu will marry Nazir’s older brother Rahim. Rahim, a respected scholar and politician, is much older than Shabanu and already has several wives. Shabanu is disgusted at the thought of marrying him. After meeting him, she realizes that Rahim is kind and seems to genuinely care for her, but Shabanu still cannot stand the thought of marrying him.



Phulan’s wedding takes place and then the family returns to the desert with their camels. They fix up the huts and dig new wells for the camels. Shabanu cannot marry until she reaches puberty; she hopes something will be wrong with her so the wedding will be called off. When she starts menstruating, she tries to hide it from her parents but her mother discovers the truth.

When she knows that she must marry Rahim, Shabanu decides to run away to live with her aunt Sharma. She flees into the desert, not anticipating that her camel Mithoo will follow her. Despite Shabanu’s best attempts, Mithoo will not leave her alone. The camel steps into a hole in the desert, breaking its leg. Shabanu cannot leave the injured animal alone, and so she waits with him for Dadi to find them.

When Dadi catches up to Shabanu, he starts to beat her but Shabanu refuses to cry out. She resigns herself to her fate because she knows that even if she is married she can protect her innermost self by locking it away inside. Eventually, Dadi stops beating her and begins to cry as he embraces Shabanu. Shabanu mentally prepares herself for the life ahead of her.