FICTION

Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave

with Lisa Wysocky. 232p. ebook available. S & S. 2014. Tr $16.99. ISBN 9781442481688. LC 2013011860.
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Gr 7–10—Shyima Hall was eight years old when her parents sold her into slavery. Before this, she was living with them and her 10 siblings in poverty in a small town near Alexandria, Egypt. She worked tirelessly for her captors, receiving no medical care or schooling and developed a general mistrust of people. When her owners moved to the U.S., Shyima was illegally transported to California, where her bondage continued. She was forced to live in a garage and not allowed to have outside contacts. This memoir follows her experiences from her early childhood and captivity to her life after she was rescued by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Teens will be interested in learning how Shyima adjusted to foster care and adoption, school, dating, working, and being a regular young adult. The book ends on an uplifting note as Shyima becomes a mother and continues working toward her goal of becoming a police officer or working for the ICE in order to save others forced into bondage. The specific details of her eye-opening account provide an excellent introduction to the terrible plight of thousands of slaves who are brought into the U.S. each year. For teachers who want to develop text-sets about child slavery and labor, combine this book with Susan Kuklin's Iqbal Masih and the Crusaders Against Child Labor (Holt, 1998); David L. Parker, Leeanne Engfer, and Robert Conrow's Stolen Dreams (Carolrhoda, 1997); and Russell Freedman's Kids at Work (Clarion, 1994).—Myra Zarnowski, City University of New York
This memoir focuses on modern child-slavery smuggling as native Egyptian Hall (born Shyima Hassan) recounts how her poor family sold her at the age of eight to a family who then moved to the United States, where she was fortunate enough to be rescued by child services. Although dry and sometimes uneven, this is an important, moving story of a disturbing worldwide issue.

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