Weekly "GSF Booktalk" #2

Members of the Great Stone Face Committee have written "booktalks" to spark interest in reading all 20 titles on this year's list of nominees.  I am posting one of these booktalks each week for 20 weeks. 

Here is "GSF Booktalk" #2:

 

Chained
by Lynne Kelley

Deep in the jungle of modern-day India, a boy is struggling to survive.  10-yr-old Hastin has taken a job with a rural circus-trainer in order to earn money to pay for his little sister’s medical care. Little did he know, when he took the job, that his employment would turn out to be more like slavery---given barely enough food to eat, excuses instead of pay, and kept locked in with the elephants at night, Hastin begins to despair.  The only thing that makes life bearable is his developing friendship with the kindly old cook, Ne Min, and with the young elephant, Nandita, who he is helping to train.  However, the training methods at the circus are terribly cruel, and soon Hastin becomes convinced that neither he nor Nandita will survive if he can’t find a way for them to escape.  Will Hastin come up with a plan in time to save them both?  Read Chained to find out!
(Booktalk written by Sarah Hydorn-GSF Committee/ Amherst Town Library)