I'm a member of YPG (Young to Publishing) group and as such am invited to a variety of young publishing people events/parties and the like, though I've never attended any of them. I suppose I'm a bad member. I did, however, recently sign up to receive advanced reader editions of books and write reviews and help spread the word. On Tuesday I received my first ARE! Little Princes by Conor Grennan which is published by Harper Collins and when I got my copy I was ecstatic. Not because I knew what the book was about (I had no idea) but it is a book from another publisher!! How exciting! I've been reading only Simon & Schuster books for a while now and though they are great it's nice to have some variety.So - the book.
It's great. Better than I could have imagined by staring at the lovely cover (which really is lovely). It reads like a great piece of fiction, but it's true! Every little bit of it. The basic story is about an almost 30 year old guy who has worked in mainstream America and decides to use all of his life savings for a trip around the world. It's an idea that I think the age group I'm in (20s?) will definitely relate to and I've already thought of a ton of people that I think would love this, but I also think it's a book that MR (teenagers who care about the world) would enjoy along with my young mother and aunt. Back to the story... one of his first stops is in Nepal working at an orphanage. He's a bit hesitant at first and is doing it mainly to impress people and seem hardcore, but it turns out that he develops real relationships with these kids and thus begins a beautiful, yet sad story about the situation with human trafficking in Nepal.
Conor's voice is real, which is what I like best about this book. He seems really believable and on top of that all is a great writer. I wouldn't normally think that you could get all this in one. Incredible story, incredible writer = Impossible? I used to think it was one of the other, though I guess Jon Krakauer could compete (and they do mention him as a comparison).
Read it. You'll love it. Yes, you.
