She travelled to Pakistan in 1997 to interview refugees at an Afghan refugee camp. From these interviews, she wrote "The Breadwinner" series, which includes "The Breadwinner" (2001), a book about a girl named Parvana, "Parvana's Journey" (2002), its sequel, "Mud City" (2003), about Shauzia, Parvana's best friend, and "My Name is Parvana" (2011), the final book in the series. While "The Breadwinner" was inspired by an interview with a mother and a girl who disguised herself as a boy in a refugee camp, the subsequent books in the series were more imaginative explorations of how children would survive.