A quick read that will stay with me for a long time

I finished Sold, by Patricia McCormick, in two sittings.  It is a 250 page book, but is written in free verse that does not fill many of the pages, so it is much shorter than you would expect.  Nonetheless, it will not be a book that I soon forget.  It was a powerful story about a thirteen year old girl from Nepal who is sold into prostitution by her stepfather.

Lakshmi's family is very poor (mostly due to the stepfather's laziness) and after a particularly difficult season in which all of their crops failed, her father tells her he has found her a job as a maid in India. Naive, sweet Lakshmi believes him and is excited about being able to work and send money back to her struggling mother and siblings, although she is sad to have to leave home. She is eventually brought to Calcutta and exposed to the horrors of the brothel. At first she refuses to perform the duties that the madam expects of her, but is eventually beaten and starved into submission. Lakshmi, who came from such an isolated village that she had never sipped a Coca-Cola before or seen a television, is quickly initiated into life inside the brothel. The girls are told of horrible punishments that are inflicted upon anyone who attempts to escape the brothel, and one who actually manages to buy her freedom is shunned by her family when she tries to return home. The cruelness of the madam and the hopelessness of the girls in the brothel is disturbing, but I never really gave up hope for Lakshmi.  Good does eventually triumph over evil in this story, but I can't stop thinking about the reality of this type of horror that is taking place in so many countries around the world right now.  Helping children escape lives of prostitution is a cause that I would love to contribute to, and I bet my students would too.