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Author: Patricia McCormick
Recommended Age: 12+
Publisher: Hyperion Paperbacks for Children
ISBN: 978-0-7868-5172-0
Year Published: 2006
No. Pages: 263
Genre: Realistic Fiction/ Free Verse
Main Character Gender: Female
Read & Reviewed by: Zach




There are thousands of children trafficked into sex slavery every year, this novel is just one example of their stories.

Thirteen year old Lakshmi lives with her loving mother, her cruel step-father and her baby brother in a small hut in Nepal. She spends her days gathering water and doing household chores while in her spare time tending to her cucumber garden and caring for her pet goat, Tali. She excels at school, loves playing hopscotch with her friends and is promised in marriage to a young boy named Krisha.

Bad weather and her step-father's gambling addiction has made money and food scarce for her family. Lakshmi is then sold for 800 rupees to a woman from the city who promised her work as a maid. Soon, Lakshmi finds herself not even in Nepal but in Calcutta, India , where she learns the unbearable truth. She has been sold into sex slavery. While she have what it takes to survive?
This novel honours the stories of child prostitutes, and brings attention to this global crisis. Every year, nearly 12 000 Nepali girls are sold by their families, intentionally or unknowingly, into a life of sexual slavery in the brothels of India. This book is incredibly well researched and as part her research McCormick traveled to remote villages in Nepal and traveled the same roads many of the girls themselves used to reach Calcutta, India. She interviewed many of workers who helped save these girls in order to reintegrate them into society. While there, she also interviewed many of the girls themselves and learned of their stories.

This book is written in free-verse and so, combines narrative and poetry. This is a refreshing way to read a story and until this year I'd never read anything written like this. This complex and heavy subject matter is easier to understand when presented in these small, yet intense vignettes.

As this novel is also written in first person narrative, I was able to better understand how this affected Lakshmi and what really happens to girls who are enslaved in the sex trade. No longer was this some fact for me; through Lakshmi's eyes, I understand this on a more personal level.

I rated this book a 9/10, and wanted to know what happened to Lakshmi in the end. I would recommend this book to anyone who can handle strong sexual content and would like to learn more about child sex slavery.