Book Review: "Little Princes"

I'm not normally one to post book reviews, even though I go through books like crazy, but this book requires one. Please do yourself a favor and go buy this book and read it. I say buy it, because some of the proceeds go to a really great cause that you'll read all about in this book.

The book is called "Little Princes" by a guy named Conor Grennan. I had read the reviews, had seen that this book had received high praise, but you guys, I couldn't put it down. I mean it. Have you read "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortensen? Everyone loves that book. And it's true, it's a really great book, but the thing about it is, Greg's not a great writer. It's a great book because it's a really compelling story, so you can forgive the fact that Greg's calling in life is not to be a writer. "Little Princes" is a whole different cup of tea (pardon the pun)--it's an incredibly compelling story, and Conor is a very talented writer.

I devoured this book. I read it in two days, and would have read it faster had I not been working all day both days. It's a true story, and it's incredible.

In about 2004, Conor had graduated from college and had been working for awhile when he decided to quit his job and take a year to travel around the world. His friends thought his desire to travel was a little bit selfish, so he amended his plans to start out with a 3 month volunteer stint at an orphanage in Nepal. Little did he know, those 3 months would change his life forever.

Nepal was in the midst of a fierce civil war from 1996-2006. The Rebel Army had strongholds throughout much of the country, and were conscripting kids into the army as young as 5 years old. Child traffickers had a field day with this. They would go into these villages, tell parents they would take their children to the Capitol, where they would be safe and cared for and receive an education--for a price. Parents, already impoverished, would give everything they had to these men, including their children, at the promise of their safety. The traffickers would then force the children to lie to anyone who asked and tell them their parents were dead in order to exploit money. When people started catching onto their game, they dumped the children in orphanages...if they were lucky.

This story tells about Conor's experience at one orphanage, and when he found out the truth about the children, the journey he found himself undertaking to do something about it.

Like I said...do yourself a favor and go buy this book. You won't be sorry. (And don't worry...it has a happy ending.)