Boys Without Names

In BOYS WITHOUT NAMES, author Kashmira Sheth takes readers into the world of child labor and exposes the unbearable conditions and incredible horrors suffered by millions of children around the world. Economic conditions drive Gopal and his family from their tiny village into life in the city of Mumbai. Their trip from village to city is complicated by lack of money and difficulty with the language. Gopal, his mother, and his twin brother and sister are forced to live for several days on the street when Gopal's father goes in search of the uncle who was supposed to meet them at the train station. Not able to read directions and street signs, Gopal's father is lost, leaving the remaining family to struggle on without him. When they finally find him, Uncle Jama is able to provide food and shelter for them while he begins the search for Gopal's missing father. Gopal attempts to look for ways to earn money and help out. One day he meets a boy who promises work if Gopal will follow him immediately. Gopal is drugged and taken to a sweatshop, where he and five other boys are forced to make beaded picture frames by a cruel boss Gopal names Scar. The boys work long hours, are given very little food, and are able to bathe only once a week. Their days and nights are spent breathing toxic glue fumes in a poorly lit, stuffy attic. At first they work quietly, each dreaming of returning to families they miss, but as the weeks and months pass, Gopal begins to tell the group stories to pass the time and soon the others add stories of their own. All the while, Gopal plots his escape. The idea of leaving becomes more complicated as the six boys become like a family. How can all of them manage to gain their freedom from under Scar's watchful eyes and locked doors? BOYS WITHOUT NAMES is a story of survival and the determination not to give up even when facing insurmountable odds. Readers will be inspired by the courage and stamina of the six young boys as they endure terrible living conditions as well as physical and emotional abuse. Little more than slaves, they still remain hopeful that they will someday be reunited with family and friends. Reviewed by: Sally Kruger, aka "Readingjunky"

"Slavery is not dead." -- U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Child Labor, Forced Labor, and Human Trafficking Eleven year-old Gopal is the eldest child in a poor, rural Indian family. Having borrowed from the moneylender after an abundant onion harvest brought meager prices for their crop, Gopal's parents were eventually forced to sell their small farm in order to pay down the accruing interest. Nevertheless, the family has continued to slowly starve while their debt has continued to grow. Now, having been given some money by Gopal's maternal uncle Jama, Gopal's baba [father] decides that the family must take advantage of the opportunity to sneak away from their village and head by train to the city of Mumbai where Jama lives. But a horrific series of missteps leaves Gopal's father missing, and Gopal feeling compelled to earn some money for the family. Thus it is that the boy falls prey, and is kidnapped and sold into slavery. Gopal finds himself imprisoned with five other boys in the attic of a house maintained by the man whom Gopal nicknames Scar. The boys are forced to glue beads on frames all day in silence while being provided little food, no exercise, and routine beatings. Scar utilizes a variety of psychological strategies designed to keep the boys constantly suspicious and fearful of one another so that they will not unite. In seeking to maintain his sanity and his will to escape his enslavement, Gopal inadvertently learns the power of story to bring comfort to and eventually win over the confidences of his fellow captives. This story about story has me recalling why it is that I so dearly love sharing books, why I so often seek out and always enjoy hearing other people's stories, and why I get such a kick out of telling my own. Stories offer us the hope of unlimited possibilities, the chance to glean the wisdom of the past, and the comfort of recognizing that we are all more alike than we are different. It is thanks to my getting to listen to and read such a wealth of stories as a child that I grew up with a tendency to embrace the multitude of colors and flavors and beliefs that I encounter. This is the reason why we find such value and developmental importance in multicultural children's literature. What I hope is also recognized is that in experiencing a story like BOYS WITHOUT NAMES and coming to understand what is going on outside one's own neighborhood, we are offered the opportunity to become more mindful and avoid becoming unwitting accomplices to what causes others suffering. I have heard about human trafficking and coerced child labor, but have not paid nearly enough attention. To think that something I might purchase may have been crafted in the sort of conditions encountered in Gopal's story, that my dollars might help perpetuate such crimes against someone's child -- a child who is sitting in an attic at this very moment -- is something that certainly requires more of my diligence. We must remember

Running away from the law seemed difficult for Gopal and his family. Money in their meager Indian village was tight, and when his family couldn't pay off their debt, they had to escape to Mumbai. After Gopal's father disappears, Gopal is offered a job in a factory, and he takes the chance to earn some spare change. However, he ends up being drugged and whisked away with four other boys. All of them are forced to make beaded frames for no pay and little food. The only way they can survive and keep themselves sane is to tell stories. Their boss becomes more violent each day, and their need to escape is dire. Can Gopal save himself and his newfound friends before time runs out? Boys Without Names is a superb book. The characters are so real, and the material is raw. The realistic fiction novel Boys without Names details the situations some homeless children in India are forced to endure: harsh conditions, slavery, and working with toxic chemicals. The message is so powerful it teaches readers to never look at the world the same way again. I recommend this book to anyone ages 12 and up. Once I read the first fifteen pages I was hooked, and couldn't put it down. It seemed like I was one of the boys as their emotions poured out onto the page. Reviewed by a young adult student reviewer Flamingnet Book Reviews flamingnet.com

Gopal's family lives in rural India where they are tied to the land. One bad crop, one illness, just one accident will secure those ties and deepen their debt. The ties are so tight, that Gopal's father decides to move the family to Mumbai where they can be helped by relatives and Baba (dad) can find work. The family faces several tenuous situations in their travel to find Gopal's Uncle Jama and in most of these situations, we're able to see the goodness of people in India. Given the terror that is about to strike Gopal, it's important that the author remind us that there are people who choose to do good or to do bad in India as there are everywhere. Gopal is a very smart young but in his cleverness, he gets snatched up and taken to be a child laborer, spending his days gluing beads to photo frames all day long. Gopal soon realizes that he's had something most of the boys he's working with have not: he's known his family and he is confident in who he is. In his upbringing, many lessons were taught through strorytelling and this helps him develop many critical thinking skills that keep him mentally one step ahead in most situations. Boys without names is a story with a very authenticl feel to it and it gives us insights into the very real work of child slavery. It is not a painful read, but suspense builds as Sheth skillfully uses Gopal's voice to explore possibilities and plan for the future, something the boys had previously refused to do. Sheth conveys how adults can manipulate and control children and successfully describes the horrendous conditions the children live in. Nonetheless, the story remains hopeful as through Gopal's eyes, we begin to see how things work, how relationships form and how things might change. The author wrote this book after being approached by HarperCollins and she based many of the characters and situations on experiences she had while traveling in India. This book is quite a change from her previous book, Blue Jasmine but both books are full of the language, rhythms, values, foods and relationships of Indian culture. themes: identity; India; child slavery; stories/storytelling