Read Banned Books: Sold

Read Banned Books

Read the books "the man" says are dangerous. Be a rebel! Read banned books! Think dangerous thoughts! Read Sold.

Previous entries in this series:

• Between the World and Me

• A Wrinkle in Time

• Fahrenheit 451

• Internment

• The Outsiders

• It Can't Happen Here

• The Hate U Give

• The Diary of a Young Girl

• Bag of Bones

• Lock In

• Animal Farm

• Kindred

Read Banned Books: Sold

I decided to read Sold after discovering it topped the list of most challenged books for 2025. All you need to do is read the back matter to have a guess at why the book banners have this short yet powerful read in their sights. The tale depicts the life of a young Nepalese girl sold into sexual slavery by her stepfather. Typically, I have little sympathy for the views of the book banners. However, in this case, someone might reasonably say they don't want their son or daughter reading this, because the theme is just too heavy. That said, that is a personal/family decision that should never be dumped onto society as a whole! Just because a book banner doesn't want their child reading a particular book doesn't mean my child should have difficulty accessing it. 

Before reading Sold, Internment, with its depiction of muslims being rounded up and thrown into internment camps, was the most difficult banned book I've read. McCormick's short, brilliant yarn is by far the hardest book I've read lately, maybe ever. The story is straightforward and depressing, but immersive all the same. By the end of the novel, you really understand Lakshmi's plight and those like her—the poverty, the desperation, the abuse, the fear. It's a sorrowful tale, but there is a glimmer of hope at its end.

I think the book banners are as misguided as ever by going after this book. They're not protecting their sons and daughters. No, they're helping perpetuate the abuse depicted on this novel's pages by stifling the message that human trafficking is real and tragic. Don't let them fool you. It even exists in the United States. At the many rest areas along I-5, there are signs urging people to call the authorities for help if they are being trafficked. This is a real issue. A terrible one. We can't stick our heads in the ground like ostriches. Don't let the book banners deny reality, no matter how terrible it is. Read banned books.