Trafficked by Kim Purcell

From the publisher:
Hannah believes she's being brought from Molodova to Los Angeles to become a nanny for a Russian family.  But her American dream quickly spirals into a nightmare.  The Platonovs force Hannah to work sixteen-hour days, won't let her leave the house, and seem to have a lot of secrets - from Hannah and from each other.  Stranded in a foreign land with false documents, no money, and nobody who can help her, Hannah must find a way to save herself from her new status as a modern-day slave or risk losing the one thing she has left: her life. 

My Thoughts:

Hannah, 17, thought that coming to the United States would help her make enough money to pay for her grandmother's badly needed eye operation and she could learn enough English to realize her dream of going to medical school.  But right from the start, things aren't exactly on the up and up.

Trafficking of young girls is a real problem these days all over the world.  Victims of trafficking are kept in conditions where they can't do anything because they have no money, no documents, no friends, no family, and too often, no hope.   Hannah only wanted to make her life better after being orphaned by a terrorist bomb explosion that killed her parents, leaving her penniless.  Now in Los Angeles, Hannah is at the mercy of the Sergey and Lillian Platonov and expected to care for their two children, Maggie and Michael, as well as keeping the house immaculate.  Hannah was to take her meals in the kitchen and sleep in a small room in the basement.

It doesn't take Hannah long to realize that she is virtually imprisoned in the house, forbidden to go any further than the backyard.  She is allowed to use the phone and has had no contract with her grandmother or best friend in Molodova.   As Hannah discovers more and more about the family she is living with, and their shady friends and dealings, she also soon learns that Sergey knew her father and has held her captive with some information he had about him.

The only bright spot in Hannah's life is looking out the window and watching the teenage boy who  lives in the house across the way from the Platonovs.  Eventually she gets to know him and his friendship offers her some respite from her loneliness.  But she is too ashamed to tell him what is happening to her.

This is Kim Purcell's debut novel and it is clear she has done some in-depth research into the trafficking of young people.  This gritty story is realistically portrayed and the character are all well drawn, so much so that chills ran down my spine in several places in the novel.  The conditions that Hannah lived under are getting more and more familiar to us as we read about people who have managed to escape their captors.  People like Sergey and Lillian Platonov succeed at holding kids captive by isolating them from the rest of the world, making sure they have no money or contact with anyone who can help and instilling a sense of shame in them about their circumstances.  And that is exactly how it happens in Trafficked.

This is a book everyone should read, especially teens and young adults who want to get out and explore the world while also being employed and who might easily be taken in by traffickers.  An awareness of what It be careful of is always wise.

Kim Purcell has posted information about trafficking and where you can get help on her website here.


This book is recommended for readers age 14+
This book was borrowed from the Mid-Manhattan branch of the NYPL

Update: One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

From the Publisher:
In the wake of heart-breaking betrayal, Carley Connors is thrust into foster care and left on the steps of the Murphys, a happy, bustling family.

Carley has thick walls and isn't rattled easily, but this is a world she just doesn't understand.  A world that frightens her.  So, she resists this side of life she'd believed did not exist with dinners around a table and a "zip your jacket, here's you lunch" kind of mom.

However, with the help of her Broadway-obsessed and unpredictable friend, Toni, the Murphys do the impossible in showing Carley what it feels like to belong somewhere.  But, when her mother wants her back, will she lose the only family she has ever known?

My Thoughts:
In One for the Murphys, 12 year old Carley was repeatedly told by her mother to never cry, or people would think she is weak.  This admonishment makes Carley's life in foster care very difficult.

Now, Carley has closed herself off from feeling any real emotion, covering up her hidden feelings with a smart mouth, a mouth that provoked her stepfather enough to badly beat both Carley and her mother.  But in foster care with the Murphys, Carley may have met her match in Mrs. Murphy.  Mrs. Murphy is the exact opposite of Carley real mother, in fact, she seems to be an almost too good to be true wife and mother, and she refuses to give up on Carley, no matter what Carley's says or how badly Carley acts out - and there is some pretty (understandably) bad acting out at times.  Turns out, Mrs. Murphy has a secret that just may to the trick. 

One of the themes in One for the Murphys is about heroes. The youngest Murhpy boy is obsessed with superheroes, so much so that he has a sign hanging in his bedroom (where Carley now sleeps) that says Be Someone's Hero.  But not all heroes need super powers to be someone's hero, and this idea becomes a theme that runs throughout the novel and a constant sad reminder to Carley that she does not have a hero in her life and secretly wants one - very badly.

Hunt's characters are well done, having both dimension and personality.  Mr. Murphy is a fire fighter and away from home much of the time, leaving his wife with lots of time to focus on Carley.  Unlike his wife, he is not really happy to have a foster child in his home; the eldest boy resents Carley, but the younger two rather like her.  And it is Carley who teaches her friend Toni, obsessed with the play Wicked, to not judge a person based on appearances, throwing the message of Wicked right back at Toni.  They are all realistically drawn and likable in their own way.

Of course, at the heart of the novel is Carley's inner emotional struggle.  Though she still loves her mother, she must face the fact that her mother may have played a part when she was beaten by her stepfather.  Carley knows that she will go back to her mother and she must come to terms with the fact that her mother is never going to be the kind of mother Mrs. Murphy is.  It's a tall order for a young girl.

One for the Murphs is Lynda Mullaly Hunt's first MG novel, and it turns out to be one of those middle grade books that is really a must read.    I liked it very much, and feel the underlying message is one we can all take away with us:

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was obtained from the publisher.

UPDATE: One for the Murphys now has a very nice teacher's guide available here

Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday is a weekly event hosted by Shannon at Books, Ramblings and Plenty of Shenanigans