Boys Without Names

Written by Kashmira Sheth

Narrated by Neil Shah

Trapped.



For eleven-year-old Gopal and his family, life in their rural Indian village is over: We stay, we starve, his baba has warned. With the darkness of night as cover, they flee to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family until school starts, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer.



But Gopal has been deceived. There is no factory, just a small, stuffy sweatshop where he and five other boys are forced to make beaded frames for no money and little food. The boys are forbidden to talk or even to call one another by their real names. In this atmosphere of distrust and isolation, locked in a rundown building in an unknown part of the city, Gopal despairs of ever seeing his family again.



But late one night, when Gopal decides to share kahanis, or stories, he realizes that storytelling might be the boys' key to holding on to their sense of self and their hope for any kind of future. If he can make them feel more like brothers than enemies, their lives will be more bearable in the shop—and they might even find a way to escape.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Jan 5, 2021
• ISBN: 9781705284582

Kashmira Sheth

Kashmira Sheth spoke to many child workers in Mumbai as part of her research for Boys Without Names. Kashmira herself was born in Gujarat, India, and moved to the United States when she was seventeen to attend university. She is the author of Blue Jasmine, an IRA Children's Book Award Winner; Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet; and Keeping Corner, an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. The mother of two daughters, Kashmira lives with her husband in Madison, Wisconsin.

Reviews for Boys Without Names

[Levi Lynde · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I thought this was non fiction at first but I’m glad I read it

[jennybeast · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Good book on a heavy topic -- child slavery in India. It's not a fast read, but the characters are appealing and the setting is well narrated.

[mrsparker_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is an excellent book that really touched my heart. It brings to life the very real problem of child slavery. I hope that many people will read it and understand the plight of so many children in our world. It is an excellent story that celebrates the courage and perseverance of the main character.

[ewyatt_16 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gopal and his family are desperate and destitute. Unable to pay back money they own, they decide to move to Mumbai to try to improve their fortunes. Gopal is desperate to help his family earn money, especially after his father disappears. Tempted by a job at a factory, Gopal soon finds himself working as a slave and unable to contact his family. A look at child labor and slavery in the modern world.

[agrudzien_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Gopal's family has fallen on hard times - his father has had to borrow money and though the family is working has hard as they can, it seems the debt is never ending. To escape, the family flees to Mumbai in the hopes of starting over with their uncle Jama. When the get to the city, nothing is as they expect it to be -- it is busy, dirty, unfriendly, and impossible to find the help they need to find Jama. After being separated from his father, Gopal tries to find work to support his family and is tricked into slave labor along with five other boys and they become the boys without names.

This book was very bleak, and I had a hard time when Gopal gave up hope (about two-thirds of the way through). Although the ending was satisfactory, it was very heavy and I think would be even harder for a younger reader to enjoy.

[smheatherly2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great novel about Gopal, who is tricked into child labor, trying to supply money for his family. There is fantastic character development, when he tries to earn the trust of his fellow slaved friends and they master the prison they are in.

[brangwinn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love books that introduce me to other people's lives. In this case, boys who have been kidnapped and forced to live in a tiny room and glue beads on picture frames all day. I will never look at something that is made in India the same way again. Now i will think about the people who are doing the work on something I buy so cheaply.

[lindap69 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I second Jacqueline Woodson's comment about this being one of the best books I've read this year.

[sullywriter_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Gripping story.

[katherinec032 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A fictionalized story of child labor in India is fascinating, disturbing and hopeful at the same time. It is an eye-opening look at the plight of young children in foreign countries, and is evidently well researched by the author. It is also about the power of friendship, caring and story-telling.

[bogreader · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Gopal is strong and intelligent for his age of 11. However, he can not escape slavery alone and will need the help and trust of his co-captives. Is it even possible when they aren't even allowed to talk to each other?

[pamelawalker_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Set in Mumbai this book gives you a sense of what it is like for children who are 'sold' into slave labour. Gopal is tricked into being sold when he thinks the kind person is going to give him a job. Cut off from his family he tries to get the other boys to tell their stories and find out where they have come from and why they are there. Gopal works out a rescue plan but will he succeed.

[callmecayce · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Another one of the best books I've read in a long time. Boys without Names is a novel about a sweatshop and turns into a sweet, though sometimes harrowing, novel about survival. The characters, from Gopal (the main character) and his family to the boys he's forced to work with at the sweatshop, are described in almost loving detail. Gopal must tell stories to survive, and embrace a courage he didn't know he had in order to help himself -- and the other boys. Highly, highly recommended.

[sandystiles · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Another great book with insights into the child labor situation (like Iqbal). I'll never by another mosaic frame made in India again!

[59square · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story of the amazing strength of a young boy who is thrown into an unimaginably horrific situation. It is hard to read, but I would recommend it because it is certainly a story worth reading and caring about. Even with all the sorrow, fear and pain that Gopal, Thick Fingers, Rocking Boy, Dimpled Chin, Night Chatterer and Gray Cloud endure, it was hard to put down. I needed to know if the boys would be helped and whether they had hope for a future.

Sheth does a great job in showing us what family means in another culture. The love and loyalty is palpable. Life is hard for poor farmers in Indian, they live on the edge of poverty even in the best of times, yet they know how to enjoy themselves and appreciate what they have. Sheth who is Indian has done a good job in drawing us life in rural India.

Ms Sheth has also done her homework in giving us graphic description of children who must endure the horror of forced labor. Gopal and the other boys who labor with little food and water, horrific living conditions and no access to medical help and an overseer who enjoys punishing the boys for any infraction.

Gopal has a strength of character and will that is almost unbelievable. He is a survivor and cannot even think about giving up. He is also capable of a great depth of compassion and desire to help others, especially when he starts seeing them as family. Gopal's bravery and resourcefulness are a force to be reckoned with. The reader, young or old, has to admire Gopal and hope right along with him that he and his fellow inmates will be rescued.

It was hard to read and know that this kind of situation in fact exists in too many parts of the world. It made me angry and it made me cry, but I had to celebrate Gopal's triumph of spirit. Sheth gives us some very good and useful information in the back for those who would like to find out more and perhaps become involved in fighting these horrendous practices and freeing children who should never have experienced anything as monstrous as this.