I Kick and I Fly

De: Ruchira Gupta

Narrado por: Ulka Simone Mohanty

Duración: 9 h y 43 m

Resumen del Editor

On the outskirts of the Red Light District in Bihar, India, fourteen-year-old Heera is living on borrowed time until her father sells her into the sex trade to help feed their family and repay his loans. It is, as she's been told, the fate of the women in her community to end up here. But watching her cousin, Mira Di, live this life day in and day out is hard enough. To live it feels like the worst fate imaginable. And after a run-in with a bully leads to her expulsion from school, it feels closer than ever.

But when a local hostel owner shows up at Heera's home with the money to repay her family's debt, Heera begins to learn that fate can change. Destiny can be disrupted. Heroics can be contagious.

It's at the local hostel for at risk girls that Heera is given a transformative opportunity: learning kung fu with the other girls. Through the practice of martial arts, she starts to understand that her body isn't a an object to be commodified and preyed upon, but a vessel through which she can protect herself and those around her. And when Heera discovers the whereabouts of her missing friend, Rosy, through a kung fu pen pal in the US, she makes the decision to embark on a daring rescue mission to New York in an attempt to save her.

A triumphant, shocking account inspired by Ruchira Gupta's experience making the Emmy-award winning documentary, The Selling of Innocents, this is an unforgettable story of overcoming adversity by a life-long activist who has dedicated her life to creating a world where no child is bought or sold.

©2023 Ruchira Gupta (P)2023 Scholastic Inc

Gripping story, beautifully narrated

I was tremendously impressed with this narration of Ms. Gupta’s work. The pace and accents were high quality with Ms. Gupta’s recitation of her afterword making a fitting end cap to a high quality audiobook performance.

As to the content and writing of I Kick and I Fly- Ruchira Gupta has shared a fictional account of a teenage girl in India who grows up in the midst of a community affected by human traffficking and who finds friendship, empowerment, and self love is a story that any young person - regardless of their gender and background - can benefit from. Her writing is simple, without any wastage of words, and demonstrated a beautiful poetry. I highly recommend this book if you want to hear just a great story and in the meantime learn about the community factors that drive human trafficking, and how communities can band together to put an end to it.