India Dark

October 1, 2011
Grades 8-12 Faced with working in a match factory in Australia in 1909, Poesy, 13, is lured from home to join a traveling musical theater troupe with 28 other child actors on a ship to glamorous America. But the steamer lands in India, where she performs with the other girls in low-cut little dresses, and all of the children are bullied (sometimes violently) by the vicious manager and made to keep quiet about the abuse as they entertain the rich and ignore the coolies. It will take readers a while to get to know the huge cast of characters, especially with the narrative's constantly switching viewpoints. Based on true events, though, the brutal details of child labor will hold readers, and so will all the backstage drama. In the end, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children intervenes, and a court case is the novel's climax. The story of nasty secrets and dirty lies is universal as the girls compete for starring roles, and Poesy is ashamed that she pretends everything is all right.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)