Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

Genre: Non-fiction

Age Recommended: 13 and up

This book had about 20 individual stories about children who were sold to places where they were then imprisoned or held by force and then made to work. These stories were quite short but inspiring. However, the beginning of the book had little paragraphs giving a summary of the story, but I found this distracting and unnecessary as the stories themselves were really short, only 5-6 pages.

The author, however, did a fantastic job of compiling these stories and translating them, as I believe that none of them were originally written in English. Everyone should definitely read this book to promote awareness about the prevalence of child labor in many countries.

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Two of my favorite stories:

TREASURE OF THE MIND by D. Ansing

Diya is a young girl who once worked with her mother and earned money by doing mehndi (henna tattoos). When her mother falls ill, Diya foes to a nearby salon to offer her services in exchange for money. However, the owner tricks Diya into staying at her home and later enslaves her. She earns no money, and is constantly abused. When the owner leaves for a vacation, and Diya is locked alone in the house, and food runs out, she realizes that this may be her only chance to escape.

Will she be able to?

SANJAY’S MOUNTAIN by Steve Hooley

Sanjay is a young boy who lives at the bottom of one of the mountains in the Himalayas. When his father is killed, his sister is sold to a sex trade ring, and his mother leaves him for another, better off, family. Moreover, his mother sells him to a carpet-maker who not only abuses him, but finds new ways to torture him everyday.

Will Sanjay ever escape?

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If you would like to read this book, you can purchase it here: Childhood Regained: Stories of Hope for Asian Child Workers

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