My Thoughts on... SOLD (Book Talk #1)


Haley Cardenas
Book Talk: SOLD
About the text:
            This young adult novel written by Patricia McCormick, is a frighteningly accurate story written about a girl caught in the sex slave trade in India. This book is based on the real stories told by women caught in sexual slavery in India. The story is told by a young girl named Lakshmi who lives in Nepal. She tells the story day to day in what can only be described as diary entries. Lakshmi starts her story by telling the reader she lived in a small village, and explains their customs. She describes her hopes and dreams for her future life as a woman in her village. She tells the reader about her caring mother who is caught in a marriage with a man who Lakshmi hates (he is her stepfather). Lakshmi goes to the market with her stepfather one day and finds herself being sold to a woman who tells Lakshmi she will be a maid for a family in the big city. Lakshmi is filled with hope for her new future as a worker. However, what Lakshmi doesn’t know is that her stepfather has sold her into the sex slave trade in India. The rest of the story is Lakshmi’s detailed horrific encounters while stuck within this prison.
My Rationale:
            My rationale for choosing this text was my interest in the subject matter. I had not found out about the sex slave trade until last year in a children’s literature class. The class was asked if we found this text not only appropriate for a secondary class read, but if we should even bring up the subject matter in a class of our own at all. This question was very interesting to me considering the problem with human trafficking in Spokane. If this problem is something that students should know about in order to stay safe, then should we consider educating them about it? I do not have a correct answer for this question and that is my reasoning for picking this text. It boggles my mind and is truly the only book that I have ever read and had to set the down because of the content being to real.
Challenges:
            The biggest challenge I have with this book is the description. This book goes very deeply into depth about what life would be like in sexual slavery and is hard to read even as an adult. The conflict with the book would be because of its “real” elements. The book is both a great read because of the truth it imparts on the reader, but it is also inappropriate for secondary students because of the same reason. Another challenge is the subject matter in general. There would need to be approval from the school, parents of the students, etc. It would almost be too hard to get the idea off of the ground because the subject matter is so touchy.
Important Details:
            Thought provoking questions-
1.      Would you want to teach the subject matter in your classroom? Is it important?
2.      Would you want to teach this book in your classroom?

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