Deborah Ellis’s story (right) about the teenage girl Rosta and her baby brother, who is up for sale, will probably shock British children. We take education and belonging to a family for granted. Children in Afghanistan have been denied both fundamental human rights.

Citizenship should be a vital human matter, so the story offers many real-life issues for young citizens to consider. How would you feel if someone tried to sell you into slavery, or to a family you don’t know? Suppose you hated your new parents, brothers and sisters; what might you do? Run away? Where to, in a country still torn by war? What is it like to be seen as a commodity rather than a person?

The class can improvise and act out the scene in the story and then think about the issues. Try “hot seating”, where one character (maybe Rosta, her father, or the man who considers buying a son) sits in a chair and answers questions put by others. Why is he prepared to sell his son? Is there absolutely no alternative? How does Rosta feel about not having an education when she is a bright girl?

The interruption of Rosta’s education is another important matter to consider. How will she miss out - a clever girl who was doing well when it all suddenly ended? Can she catch up, or are children who receive no education doomed to be marooned forever in a sea of ignorance? What particular knowledge and skills do you have that you think will be most valuable to you in later life? (Need to take a broad view: reading and writing are the obvious ones, but employers nowadays are keen on personal characteristics as well, such as being reliable, able to work in a team, learn new skills.) The story is graphically told, so what do we learn about life in Afghanistan? (Little food, no proper housing for many, businesses and livelihoods bombed, refugees on the road with their possessions but nowhere to go.)