Hidden Girl: The True Story of a Modern-Day Child Slave
Hall was eight years old when her impoverished Egyptian parents sold her to a wealthy couple. The life of domestic slavery that followed was one of endless labor and physical and verbal abuse. Her experiences don’t improve when her captors immigrate to the U.S., smuggling her in with them. Almost two years pass before her plight is discovered, and she is freed. But her difficulties don’t end there. As a result of never having been educated, she is illiterate, can’t speak English, and can’t even tell time. Accordingly, school is an ordeal and the foster homes in which she lives are often problematic. The balance of this affecting and enlightening memoir tells the story of how she survived and, ultimately, thrived. Unfortunately, her story is not unique. She points out that there are almost 43,000 slaves in the U.S. at any given time. By giving a face to one hidden girl, Hall has given a face to many. This is an excellent book for both individual reading and classroom use. Also suggest Rosanne Hawke’s Spirit of a Mountain Wolf, reviewed in this issue, for a fictionalized view of child slavery. Grades 9-12. --Michael Cart