BANNED BOOKS: Sold by Patricia McCormick

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How do you write a book involving unspeakable sexual horrors happening to children without feeling the deepest pits of despair?

Patricia McCormick managed to do just that in her book Sold about Laskhmi, a 13 year old girl sold by her step-father and trafficked for sexual exploitation. 

McCormick originally traveled to India and Nepal as a journalist doing research on sex trafficking of young girls, but what she found was so much more than could ever go into a single article. She states that she wrote this for students--young teens--and that she was meticulous about her word choices and phrasing as she wrote. She specifically did not want to use graphic language. Instead, she tried to reflect the language that a young girl who doesn't even have the words to describe her experiences would use. She further noted:

"It’s written specifically for young people who want to know about the wider world. I worked with wonderful editors, fact checkers, all kinds of responsible parties who want to make sure that what we’re bringing to students, what we’re bringing and putting into their libraries, is informative and doesn’t brutalize them. Just because this is a brutal topic, we don’t have to brutalize them with that kind of language.”

The book is brutal, but also hopeful.

The book is NOT as explicit as those seeking to ban it would have you believe. 

Yet, it is one of the most banned books in the United States, regularly in the top five banned books. The most banned is Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult which I wrote about HERE.

This is one of the saddest books I've ever read, but the end was also perfection. While this book centers on the sexual slavery and trafficking of girls in Nepal and India, it is also a book about never losing hope. The book, told in the first person from Lakshmi's point of view is visceral. I felt Lakshmi's hope as it waxed and waned, her dread and fear as she realized the lies she'd been told, her terror at being abused sexually and physically, and her despair at being told she had to work off a debt.

Young Lakshmi is brutally abused and beaten by the owner of the brothel, then drugged and sexually abused by men for days after first arriving at the brothel. She is powerless, yet she has a small bundle of possessions from her remote, mountain village home that she regularly holds in her arms in order to inhale the familiar scents of that home. She holds on to hope that she will return there someday. At times, throughout the book, I had the sense that Lakshmi's hope was on the cusp of being broken, but through tiny moments of kindness from others--a boy who teaches her English words and gives her an American book, another boy who leaves her tea and gives her a Coca Cola without demanding payment--her hope is renewed over and over.

While the book strongly alludes to Lakshmi being raped repeatedly by adult men, it never really explicity describes these experiences, although sexual content is the primary reason for bans and challenges to Sold. McCormick makes it a point to not describe the details too clearly. Instead, she describes Lakshmi's fear and her occasional dissociation from what is happening to her. 

The book also walks a fine line between the horrors of child sex slavery and the growing relationships the girls and young women build amongst themselves. There are tender moments of care and friendship between the girls that help to alleviate the tension as the story moves along. These moments also help to humanize the characters and build them up as multi-demensional people to a degree that you feel like any of these girls could be a real person. 

During the 2023-2024 school year, PEN America notes that Sold was tied for the third most banned book in the United States with bans in 85 school districts. The book tied with The Perks of Being a Wallflower. 

One of my many frustrations about book bans is that they seek to severely restrict access to books that include characters and situations that people experience in real life and these books allow those who are not free to express their own experiences to know that they are not alone. Jodi Picoult has noted that teenagers have told her that they had plans to hurt themselves or others at their schools until they read her book, Nineteen Minutes--they have told her that her book saved them and others because they felt seen and understood. We need MORE of that, not less. 

Books save lives.

The website Common Sense Media indicates Sold is appropriate for ages 13 and up, though the reviews of the site's users have a range of what readers feel is appropriate for this book. Some of the reviews point out that this book is important, in part, because girls across the globe have experience sexual harrasment or assault. Readers who feel shamed by their experiences, despite being victims, may find strength in Lakshmi's journey and the ultimate outcome of the story. They may see themselves in Lakshmi and the other girls in this book. Many readers note that there is quite a bit of sexual content--but again, the sex is not graphically described so much as Lakshmi's emotional response and inner thoughts around it are explored. It's also important to note that there are other instances of physical violence and alcohol abuse. These are all topics that most young people are much more aware of than adults want to acknowledge. A teenager living with an alcohol or abusive parent or family member or a child who is sexually harrased or abused may find strength in Lakshmi's journey.

McCormick has stated:

"To ban this book is to erase the young people around the world who are currently enslaved . . . To ban this book is a disservice to the women who shared their stories with me so the world could know about their plight. And to ban this book is disrespectful to the young readers who want to know about the world as it is – so they can make a difference. 

"But, perhaps most important, to ban this book is to take away a lifeline for readers who are experiencing abuse. These kids know what adults often don’t. Books aren’t the problem; they are part of the solution."

According to PEN America, 60% of book bans in the 2023-2024 school year were for books considered to be Young Adult. Further, 59% of banned books are challenged due to addressing grief and death, while 57% are challenged for touching on sexual topics or content. 

According to reviews on the book's page on the Barnes and Noble website:

• Publishers Weekly considers Sold appropriate for ages 12 and up.
• School Library Journal considers the book appropriate for 9th grade and up.
• Kirkus considers the book Young Adult. 

These reviews also note that the book has won several awards:

• National Book Award Finalist
• Publishers Weekly, Best 100 Books of the Year
• NPR's Best Books of the Year
• American Library Association, Top Ten List, Best Books of the Year
• Gustav-Heinemann Peace Prize
• Booklist Editor's Choice Award
• New York Public Library Best Books for Teens
• Children's Literature Council's Choice
• Book Sense Pick

You can buy Sold by Patricia McCormick HERE.

You can buy Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult HERE and you can read my review HERE.

SOURCES LINKED (not necessarily in order):

• https://pen.org/report/beyond-the-shelves/
• https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sold-patricia-mccormick/1100600727
• https://www.phillyvoice.com/most-challenged-banned-books-america-sold-patricia-mccormick/
• https://hhsmedia.com/52117/feature/author-of-book-sold-mccormick-shares-journey-of-writing-book-about-trafficking/?print=true
• https://people.com/jodi-picoults-nineteen-minutes-was-the-most-banned-book-last-year-8736199#:~:text=The%20book%20is%20about%20a,feeling%20isolated%2C%22%20she%20continues.