Book Review

The book titled “Little Princess” by Conor Grennan talks about slavery and one man’s quest to make an impact to children in Nepal. Grennan narrates the predicaments of children in Nepal during the civil war; the war began in the year 1996 and ended in 2006. The main theme of the story is slavery in the midst of war and poverty. Children are the most affected during the civil war. Parents find it hard to take of children, and they opt to sell them off to child traffickers. This leads to many children being left without parental care and become orphans.

The main character in the story is Conor Grennan. Grennan embarks on a tour around the world. Grennan decides to visit Nepal and help children who are victims of the war in Nepal. There are several children homes in the country, and Grennan opts to volunteer at Little Princess children Homes. The children’s center is packed, and there are children from different parts of the country. Grennan is compassionate to the children. Apparently, the children are not orphans. The civil war in Nepal and the high poverty levels made it difficult for parents to protect their children. Many parents sold their children to child traffickers hoping that the children would get an education and live safely.

The civil war led to a lot of suffering to the children in Nepal. The children sold to child traffickers ended up in the streets within the capital city, Kathmandu. Parents found it difficult to reconcile with their children due to conflicts within the city. After three months of volunteer work at Little Princess Children Home, Grennan travelled to other countries. It is while travelling to the other parts of the world that Grennan felt an urge to help children in Nepal. In United States, Grennan decided to start a non-governmental organization aimed at reuniting lost children in Nepal with their parents. The organization was known as Next Generation Nepal.

Under Next Generation Nepal, Grennan moved to Nepal and embarked on a task of reuniting seven children from Humla with their parents; the seven children had been found in 2006. In Nepal, Grennan collaborated with Umbrella Foundation, a non-governmental organization working in Nepal, to rent a house. The civil war in Nepal subsided, and Grennan embarked on the journey to reunite the seven children with their parents. Towards the end of 2006, some of the children who came from Godawari were reunited with their parents.

Impression about the Book:

The book cover is eye catching and evokes a sense of sympathy. In the cover, the neat portrait of the little girl is in contrast to the rugged door behind her. The book is inspiring and contains valuable lessons about the impact civil unrest on children. Additionally, the book’s subtitle enables the reader to relate to the events discussed in the book. Grennan visit to Nepal enables him to have firsthand experience of what the children in the war torn country were experiencing. Grennan collaborated with other non-governmental organization, such as Umbrella Foundation, to help in reuniting lost children to their parents.

Recommendation about the Book

I greatly recommend that people should spare some time and read the book. In the book, Grennan moved from being an ordinary tourist visiting different countries to making an impact to children in Nepal. The children who were reunited with their parents ended up achieving more in life than if they were alone. Unfortunately, there are many more children in Nepal who shall never experience parental care.