Book Review: Little Princes by Conor Grennan

I got this book for free.
Article first published as Book Review: Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal by Conor Grennan on Blogcritics.
Harper Collins has kindly made available to five (5) copies to be given out – Enter at the end of the post.

My rating for Little Princes – 4

About:
“Little Princes: One Man’s Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal” by Conor Grennan (Website) is a memoir of the author’s time as a volunteer in an orphanage in Nepal.  Not only did Mr. Grennan volunteer, but he also went above and beyond to find the long lost families of these children who were never orphaned but used and manipulated by war profiteers.

Get a discount on “Little Princes” through the ManOfLaBook affiliate account on:
Amazon |Book Depository US | Book Depository UK

Thoughts:
“Little Princes” by Conor Grennan is the story of how one man can make a difference. Volunteering with young children without any experience, the author finds himself at Little Princes Children home in Nepal and quickly comes to think of the kids as family.

The story of how the kids came to the orphanage is distributing. A man, known to the authorities but with political clout, has promised poor parents to take care of their children, saving the children from forced labor, slavery or joining the rebel army. The parents, poor as they were, scraped together a hefty sum to insure their child’s future. Once he got the money the monstrous child trafficker abandoned the kids, forced to work or sold them.

Conor Grennan trekked through the mountains, at great peril and huge personal risk to remedy the situation and find the children’s parents –assuming they were still alive. As he tells his tales Mr. Grennan weaves in his love affair and eventual marriage to the lovely Liz.

The book is written in a pleasant manner but felt slightly rushed. However, that’s OK – as a former backpacker (in South America) I thought the style suited the storyteller. The book is enjoyable and readable while not giving way to sentimental moments. It comes across that Grennan is one of the “good guys” and is telling a genuine story while sharing credit with those who helped him along the way.

While it is obvious that Mr. Grennan tries to shine a positive light on those that helped him, he still makes them somewhat dimensional instead of a cardboard figure (after all, even in the US you cannot be straight as an arrow in order to successfully navigate the bureaucracy).

While the story is amazing, sincere and touching it is also a pleasure to see how the author has grown, both in personality and style over the five years in which the memoir takes place.

About:
Conor Grennan, fresh from a job at Prague goes on a whirlwind world wide trip in 2006. He starts his adventure volunteering for an orphanage called “Little Princes Children’s Home). Turns out the kids are not orphans but victims of a notorious child trafficker which has promised their parents protection from the Maoist revolutionaries. However, more often than not the children end up as slaves.

Stunned by their stories, Grennan sets on a mission to locate the parents.

Mr. Brennan had to start a charity in order to keep his mission going strong – check out Next Generation Nepal!

Rules:

• • Contest is for one (1) new copy of “Little Princes”.
    
  • There will be FIVE (5) WINNERS
    
  • Must be a US / Canada mailing Address
    
  • Ends Tuesday February 1, 2011
    
  • Winners will be chosen using Random.org
    
  • Winners will have 24 hours after my initial contact to write back their mailing address, otherwise alternate winners will be picked

Congratulations:

• willowbirdks@
• jmartinez0415@
• darrowenator@
• taffy.$$$$@ (full name as email)
• seekread@

Get a discount on “Little Princes” through the ManOfLaBook affiliate account on:
Amazon |Book Depository US | Book Depository UK

Zohar – Man of la Book
This post is in the 62nd

Published at I’ll Never Forget The Day I Read A Book!
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