Boys without Names

December 21, 2009
When 11-year-old Gopal's family tries to escape crushing debt by leaving their village in India for his uncle's home in Mumbai, Gopal is eager to help earn money, especially after his father disappears. Gopal is fooled by the promise of a factory job and ends up a slave in a small shack with five other boys he must nickname because none is allowed to say his name. Suffering a under a cruel boss, Gopal slowly unites the boys though storytelling, with each boy reclaiming his past and his name. Sheth's (Keeping Corner
) lush prose (“It is as if someone has rubbed this rough sack on my heart over and over again and made it bleed”) creates a vivid portrait of slave labor without losing the thread of hope that Gopal clings to. Though certain lines of dialogue seem improbable (“The promise was like a rose, but what I got was one big thorn of a boss”), the characters are strong and believable, with Gopal being particularly relatable. The happy ending may be slightly unrealistic but nonetheless satisfies. Ages 9–12.

July 1, 2010
Eleven-year-old Gopal and his family hope moving from the country to Mumbai will save them from starvation; unfortunately, their misfortunes only intensify. Gopal is sold into child labor, spending grueling hours making picture frames. But as he befriends other workers and begins telling his kahanis (stories) he builds both his self-worth and plans for freedom. Sheth's unique voice is as compelling as her characters. Websites. Glos.

(Copyright 2010 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)

November 15, 2009
Grades 4-7 Set in contemporary Mumbai, this novel from the author of Keeping Corner (2007) tells a harrowing story of child slavery. Indebted to ruthless moneylenders, 11-year-old Gopals family flees to Mumbai, where they hope to find work. On the way, Gopals father goes missing, and Gopal guides his mother and siblings to an uncles house, where they worry and wait for Baba to find them. Eager to help his family earn money, Gopal follows a local boy to what he thinks will be a days work at a factory. Instead, he is pulled into a sweatshopa single room where five boys are held against their will and forced to produce decorative items with toxic materials. As Gopal dreams of escape, he builds tenuous friendships with his fellow workers. Those wary bonds form a dramatic counterpoint to the childrens daily misery, described in moving, palpable detail, and skillfully steer the story away from docu-novel territory to its hopeful conclusion. Pair this eye-opening title with Susan Kuklins Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders against Child Slavery (1998).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2010
Gr 4-7-Eager to find work after his hungry family arrives in Mumbai, 11-year-old Gopal ends up locked in a one-room "factory" making beaded frames with five other boys so beaten down they don't even talk to one another. Gopal's story is not uncommon: a bumper crop year drove prices down, money was borrowed to pay for medicine, the farm was lost but the debt remained, and the family was forced to flee to the city to find work. Gopal stores up his memories of his rural Indian village, with its pond, fruit trees, and bird songs, contrasting them with the noisy stink of their new home at the end of a sewage-laden lane in an overcrowded shantytown. Readers quickly come to care for this clever, perceptive boy who tries hard to do the right thing. Suspense mounts as it becomes clear that escape from the sweatshop will not be easy: the other boys need to be convinced. Storytelling is the key to winning them over, and Sheth includes bits of tales both familiar and new. The author includes more about child labor at the end of this well-told survival story with a social conscience."Kathleen Isaacs, Children's Literature Specialist, Pasadena, MD"

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