Sold by Patricia McCormick

Title: Sold

Category: International

Author: Patricia McCormick

Publisher/Year: Hyperion Paperbacks / 2006

Genre: International, Young Adult

Awards:

• Pub

Pages: 272pp

Summary: Lakshmi is an ordinary Nepalese girl, living up in a mountain village with her family. The first few chapters detail her innocent life. Then a monsoon washes away her family's entire rice crop and her poor family faces extreme poverty. Her step-father sends her to "the city" to work as a maid but she soon discovers she has been sold into prostitution. The book details the experience from Lakshmi's point of view. The cruelty and abuse she suffers. She is lied to about being able to work her way to freedom and realizes there are no safe ways to get away. She must risk her life or stay where she is.

Comments: This such a sad story. I never know so many children were sold into prostitution. It is an amazing book and is worth reading. It does have a good ending, but I'm sure many girls' stories do not end so good in real life. I would recommend this book to a mature student, after getting consent from their parent or guardian as the content is very graphic. Although the content is hard to read, it is powerful and the information needs to be shared.

Classroom Application:
Lexile: 660L
Age: 14 - 18 years old
This book would be for an independent read or study. I would never have this as a required reading for an entire class due to its graphic nature. It could be very powerful for someone wanted to learn more about international child exploitation or sex trafficking.