Chained, Lynne Kelly

Title:  Chained
Author: Lynne Kelly
Publisher:  Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux
Year: 2012
Pages: 248
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes: Friendship, Child Labor, Animal Cruelty, Freedom
Age Range: 4th-6th Grade

Summary: from Goodreads

After ten-year-old Hastin’s family borrows money to pay for his sister’s hospital bill, he leaves his village in northern India to take a job as an elephant keeper and work off the debt. He thinks it will be an adventure, but he isn’t prepared for the cruel circus owner. The crowds that come to the circus see a lively animal who plays soccer and balances on milk bottles, but Hastin sees Nandita, a sweet elephant and his best friend, who is chained when she’s not performing and hurt with a hook until she learns tricks perfectly. Hastin protects Nandita as best as he can, knowing that the only way they will both survive is if he can find a way for them to escape.

Review:
In the spirit of Water for Elephants and The One and Only Ivan, Chained portrays a tender, loving relationship between a wild animal and its caretaker.  Hastin and Nandita have a bond that transcends species, rooted in their shared desire to be reunited with their families.  Set in India, Chained provides young readers with a window into another culture, and into the plight of children living in societies where they are often manipulated and exploited for someone else's financial gain.

When Hastin's sister falls ill, his mother is forced to work as an indentured servant in the home of the wealthy business owner who paid the hefty hospital bill.  When Hastin sees the deplorable conditions in which he is living, he hatches a scheme to make his own money, freeing his mother from the cruelty of her "employer".  But Hastin gains his mother's freedom at the cost of his own, when he is duped into becoming an elephant keeper at a small circus in another part of the country.  Separated from everything he knows, he is forced to participate in the capture and training of a sweet baby elephant that he calls Nandita.  Some of the most emotional parts of the book are when Nandita is captured, and her family group tries to find her.  Luckily for Hastin and Nandita both, the circus cook is also a retired elephant trainer, who helps Hastin take good care of the young elephant despite her cruel treatment at the hands of the current trainer.  Neither Hastin nor Nandita could have survived their captivity without the care of the cook.

Regardless of the treatment he receives, or the length of his servitude, Hastin never loses hope that he will find a way to free himself from bondage and rejoin his family.  When the circus owner keeps adding time to his period of service, Hastin realizes that if he does not take matters into his own hands he will never be free.  Hastin is brave and compassionate, and selflessly refuses to leave the circus unless he can find a way to free Nandita as well.  His connection to the young elephant is a beautiful example for children of the power of loyalty and devotion.

I think that this novel would make a good addition to any elementary unit with a focus on the lives of children around the world, child labor, or animals.  There are many cross-curricular connections that could be made, with geography and ecosystems and environmental justice.  I plan to use this book next year as part of a "One Book, One School" program in my district, and I hope that the 4th graders who will be reading it find it as satisfying as I did.

Boys Without Names, by Kashmira Sheth

Title:  Boys Without Names

Author:  Kashmira Sheth
Publisher:  Balzer & Bray
Year:  2010
Pages:  320
Genre:  Realistic Fiction
Themes:  Social Justice, Child Labor
Age Range:  5th-8th Grade

Summary:  (from Goodreads)

For eleven-year-old Gopal and his family, life in their rural Indian village is over: We stay, we starve, his baba has warned. So they must flee to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family until school starts, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer. 

But Gopal has been deceived. There is no factory but, instead, a small, stuffy sweatshop, where he and five other boys are forced to make beaded frames for no money and little food. The boys are forbidden to talk or even to call one another by their real names. In this atmosphere of distrust and isolation, locked in a rundown building in an unknown part of the city, Gopal despairs of ever seeing his family again.

Then, late one night when Gopal decides to share kahanis, or stories, he realizes that storytelling might be the boys' key to holding on to their sense of self and their hope for any kind of future. If he can make them feel more like brothers than enemies, their lives will be more bearable in the shop—and they might even find a way to escape.

Review:
The first book I read by Kashmira Sheth was called Keeping Corner, and told the story of a 10 year widow in early 20th century India, forced to live a life of mourning because her betrothed had been killed before she was old enough to marry him.  I was impressed with both her ability to create such authentic feeling characters, and with the depth of her understanding of the social and cultural factors that were in play, both within the girl's small Brahman community and in the larger historical context.

In Boys Without Names Sheth once again writes a story full of believable characters, characters who change and grow in unexpected ways throughout the course of the story.  As Gopal and his family left their village and traveled to the city, I knew that they would be out of their depth.  It was a little bit like watching a disaster happen in slow motion, at least as an older reader.  I know enough about the region to know that children are often victimized in this way, either because their parents are naive to the promises made by "recruiters", or because poverty forces people to make desperate decisions.  Younger readers may not have the background knowledge to connect the dots while they are reading, but I think that they will be able to identify with Gopal and his friends.  Because I think that there will have to be some robust discussion for students to understand the context for the story, I think this book is best used in a guided reading setting.

Teacher Resources:
Junior Library Guild Reading Guide
Harper Collins Discussion Guide