{"id":37310,"date":"2026-05-06T14:30:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T21:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=37310"},"modified":"2026-05-07T06:44:32","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T13:44:32","slug":"you-cant-read-that-banned-book-review-sold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pwoodford.net\/blog\/?p=37310","title":{"rendered":"You Can’t Read That! Banned Book Review: Sold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"sold\"<\/a>Sold<\/a><\/strong>
\nby Patricia McCormick
\n\u2014 Fiction\/Young Adult \u2014
\n\"3_5\"<\/p>\n

Description (from newbookrecommendation.com<\/a><\/strong>): <\/em>Sold tells the harrowing tale of Lakshmi, a 13-year-old girl from Nepal. The novel explores her journey from a simple life to being sold into a world of unimaginable horrors. Faced with exploitation and resilience, Lakshmi\u2019s story sheds light on the dark reality of human trafficking.<\/em><\/p>\n

I saw the most recent “top ten” (actually eleven) list of challenged and targeted books in America and realized the title in the number one position, Patricia McCormick’s Sold<\/em>, was one I’d not heard of before. Since my library had a copy, I decided to read and review it, and to explore its history as a target of book banners.<\/p>\n

Patricia McCormick tells the story from Lakshmi’s point of view, and it’s a grim one, especially in that, though fictional, it reflects a brutal reality experienced by hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of girls, boys, women, and men around the world.<\/p>\n

Sold<\/em> is on the American Library Association’s list of most targeted books based on the frequency and number of challenges lodged by parents (sometimes actual parents, sometimes conservative and religious activists who may or may not have children of their own) who object to the novel’s inclusion in middle and high school libraries and\/or class reading lists.<\/p>\n

Here’s the ALA’s 2025 list<\/a><\/strong>, its most recent, of the most challenged and targeted books in America:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Sold<\/em>\u00a0by Patricia McCormick<\/li>\n
  2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Stephen Chbosky<\/li>\n
  3. Gender Queer: A Memoir<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0by Maia Kobabe<\/li>\n
  4. Empire of Storms<\/em>\u00a0by Sarah J. Maas<\/li>\n
  5. (tie) Last Night at the Telegraph Club<\/em>\u00a0by Malinda Lo<\/li>\n
  6. (tie) Tricks<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u00a0by Ellen Hopkins<\/li>\n
  7. A Court of Thorns and Roses<\/em>\u00a0by Sarah J. Maas<\/li>\n
  8. (tie) A Clockwork Orange<\/em>\u00a0by Anthony Burgess<\/li>\n
  9. (tie) Identical<\/em>\u00a0by Ellen Hopkins<\/li>\n
  10. (tie) Looking for Alaska<\/strong><\/em><\/a>\u00a0by John Green<\/li>\n
  11. (tie) Storm and Fury<\/em>\u00a0by Jennifer L. Armentrout<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I’ve written reviews of the highlighted books on the list; you can follow the links to read them. As for the rest, in researching and compiling You Can’t Read That! banned book news updates, I’ve learned about the other titles and authors on the list \u2014 with the exception, as noted above, of Sold<\/em>. I set out to correct that gap in my knowledge, and here’s some of what I’ve learned:<\/p>\n

    Per the Marshall Libraries entry on Sold<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, it’s currently restricted \u2014 literally under lock & key at middle school libraries and kept behind counters at high school libraries \u2014 in King George County, Virginia. In Pennsylvania, it’s been banned and removed from Blackhawk Area School District libraries, and challenged but retained after review by Council Rock School District libraries. Some challenges to Sold<\/em> were copied and pasted from pro-censorship book rating sites and submitted by individuals who did not have children enrolled in the affected school districts; others were generated by members of a notorious book-banning group, Moms for Liberty, who had run for, and won, seats on local school boards.\u00a0This is by no means an exhaustive list of challenges to, and restrictions and bannings of, Sold<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    What about those copied & pasted challenges? One source is a conservative website, ratedbooks.org<\/strong><\/a>. Here’s what it has to say about Sold<\/em>:<\/p>\n

    Summary of concerns:<\/em><\/p>\n

    This contains explicit aberrant sexual activities including rape of a minor; prostitution; and explicit violence.<\/p>\n

    Thoughts from Rated Books:<\/em><\/p>\n

    While the story provides an unflinching look at the crime of sex trafficking in Nepal and India \u2014 a practice that should be condemned and eradicated \u2014 the graphic nature if the narrative is inappropriate for children, pre-teens, and teens under the age of 18. The descriptions of the ongoing rape\/violation and physical abuse suffered by the girls is emotionally disturbing and traumatic for many younger teens. Additionally, the description of one girl’s suicide and the Nepalese mothers drinking the juice from the ink tree so that they will cause themselves to miscarry babies that they do not want to be born only to die later, yields difficult classroom discussions. This is particularly true when the teacher may not be aware of the personal beliefs or opinions of the student’s family on such topics. I would strongly recommend that teachers who select this book for whole class guides reading activities first secure the consent of the parents to have their child participate. Encouraging parents to read the book with their child allow them the opportunity to facilitate discussions of the content in a way that they find developmentally appropriate.<\/p>\n

    And here’s a “slick sheet,” meant to be read aloud from and handed out at school board meetings:<\/p>\n

    \"Screenshot<\/a><\/p>\n

    Slick sheets were originated by booklooks.org<\/a><\/strong>, a website set up by the aforementioned Moms for Liberty, to provide cherry-picked passages from novels the group seeks to challenge and ban. While the site no longer offers reviews and slick sheets, several other book-banning organizations have copied and now share the same material, among them Common Sense Media, Plugged In, Rated Reads, Shelf Checkout, and ParentsPick.<\/p>\n

    Before I offer my own comments on Sold<\/em>, here’s a link<\/a><\/strong> to an article about the novel which includes details of a 2023 attempt to ban its use in Flagler County, Florida schools and libraries, a lengthy and detailed review of the book itself, and commentary by the author, Patricia McCormick. If that’s TL\/DR for you, here are a couple of takeaways:<\/p>\n