SUBSCRIBE
SUBSCRIBE
SLJ Blog Network +
  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal: A Mock Newbery Blog
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About TLT
  • Reviews
    • Book Reviews
    • A to Z Book Lists
    • Book Review Policy
  • Teen Issues
  • Middle Grade Mondays
  • Programs
    • TPiB
    • Tech Talk
  • Professional
    • Teen Services 101
    • Things We Didn’t Learn in Library School
  • MakerSpace
  • Projects
    • #SVYALit
    • #FSYALit
    • #MHYALit
    • #Poverty in YA Lit

July 13, 2012 by Karen Jensen, MLS

Fear in writing, fear in life (guest post by Kim Purcell)

July 13, 2012 by Karen Jensen, MLS   4 comments

Approximately 2.5 million people are forced into labor each year.
1.2 million children are trafficked each year.
95% of human trafficking victims experience physical and sexual abuse.
43% are used for forced sexual exploitation.
(Statistics from UNglobalcompact.org)
1/3 of runaways teens are lured into sexual exploitation and trafficking within 48 hours of leaving home.
95% of sex trafficking victims have been sexually abused at home.
“Survival Sex” is the practice of being coerced to provide sex in exchange for food and shelter.
(from Fairbanks Youth Advocates)
The average age of entry into female prostitution in America is 12 to 14 years old.
(From Day of the Girl)
Given these facts, it is more than time to see these stories being told in our teen fiction.  One such story is Trafficked by Kim Purcell.  Today she writes a guest blog post for TLT on fear and how she came to write her novel about human trafficking.


People often ask me what made me write a novel about human trafficking since it’s such a bleak topic. Many influences came at around the same time to point me in the direction of writing this book – a news article, my English as a Second Language students, a housekeeper who was being mistreated, and my cousin living in Moldova, a poor country in the former Soviet Union with a terrible trafficking problem. I hate to see people being mistreated and I wanted to do something about it. However, I was also writing about fear, something every one of us has to overcome, something I’ve worked on overcoming as a person and as a writer.

A 17-year-old Moldovan girl whose parents have been killed is brought to the United States to work as a slave for a family in Los Angeles.  Hannah believes she’s being brought from Moldova to Los Angeles to become a nanny for a Russian family. But her American dream quickly spirals into a nightmare. The Platonovs force Hannah to work sixteen-hour days, won’t let her leave the house, and seem to have a lot of secrets—from Hannah and from each other.  Stranded in a foreign land with false documents, no money, and nobody who can help her, Hannah must find a way to save herself from her new status as a modern-day slave or risk losing the one thing she has left: her life. (Description of Trafficked from Goodreads)

Fear is so universal that I knew readers would be able to relate to my main character, Hannah. She is trapped by the traffickers’ threats and her own fear, not by any physical lock or chain. When I researched human trafficking cases, this is what surprised me most: they have many chances to get away, but they don’t, because they’re too afraid.

SCROLL TO KEEP READING THIS POST

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Human Trafficking Infographic
from http://stopthetraffik.wordpress.com/2011/09/23/exciting-new-human-trafficking-infographic/

It made me think that modern day slaves aren’t any different from anyone who’s afraid to do something he or she’d like to do. Why do people stay in jobs they hate? Why was it so hard for my ESL students to speak in English to strangers? Why do people stay in relationships that make them miserable? Why don’t we follow our dreams? It usually boils down to fear. I felt that if I could find a way for Hannah to get through her fear, I could find a way for anyone, including myself, to do it too.
Human Trafficking Infographic by Andrew Fung

While I was writing this book, I had to face the fear that I might never be published and people would look at me with pity and think, well, she wasn’t good enough, so sad for her. I’d written two unpublished novels before this one and people had stopped asking me about my writing. I feared I’d never be able to wave that first novel in the air and shout: “I did it.” I was terrified that I’d be that person with a dream who didn’t make it.

Click here for more information about Human Trafficking
Help Trafficked Teens, find out how by visiting Kim Purcell online
For a book discussion guide and more, visit Kim Purcell online
Not for Sale, the website dedicated to ending human slavery in our lifetime. Visit it.
 
But I kept writing anyway. I put one step in front of the other. I wrote draft after draft. I started to feel proud of what I was writing and I stepped out of the gloomy fear fog. As I overcame my own fear, I was able to make my main character, Hannah, believe in herself and take those few steps forward to change her life. Because sometimes all it takes is just a few more steps and then you’re there.
About Kim Purcell
I grew up in a small town in Canada. It wasn’t right for me, so I left. I went to the University in British Columbia, did a bunch of traveling, got married and moved to LA. I wrote two “practice” novels before TRAFFICKED. I had two kids. We all moved to New York. I love the growl, the sassy walk, the honesty of New York City. It’s inspirational. In my spare time, I’m a swimmer and a runner and a yogi. I dance in elevators and change rooms. I laugh a lot and sometimes I yell.  (More information here)

Filed under: Human Trafficking, Kim Purcell, Teen Issues, Trafficked

SHARE:

Read or Leave Comments

About Karen Jensen, MLS

Karen Jensen has been a Teen Services Librarian for almost 30 years. She created TLT in 2011 and is the co-editor of The Whole Library Handbook: Teen Services with Heather Booth (ALA Editions, 2014).

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Posts

March 2013

Human Trafficking: YOU can get involved and help! (guest post by Kim Purcell)

by Karen Jensen, MLS

August 2021

We Need to Talk: An Interview with Wade Hudson, Cheryl Willis Hudson, and Brendan Kiely By Lisa Krok

by Karen Jensen, MLS

February 2021

Helping RevolTeens Fight the Mental Health Crisis, by Christine Lively

by Karen Jensen, MLS

February 2021

Sunday Reflections: The Things We Won't Buy, a Reflection on Generation Z, Conscious Capitalism, and "Cancel Culture"

by Karen Jensen, MLS

November 2020

The Death Penalty in YA Lit

by Karen Jensen, MLS

ADVERTISEMENT

SLJ Blog Network

100 Scope Notes

One Star Review, Guess Who? (#187)

by Travis Jonker

A Fuse #8 Production

Ellen Myrick Publisher Preview: Fall 2023/Winter 2024 (Part Five – Berbay, Cicada & Creston Books)

by Betsy Bird

Good Comics for Kids

Recent Graphic Novel Deals, Late May 2023 | News

by Johanna

Heavy Medal

And now there are 38: May Heavy Medal Mock Newbery Suggestions

by Emily Mroczek-Bayci

Teen Librarian Toolbox

A Case for Fun and Games, a guest post by Andrew Auseon

by Amanda MacGregor

The Classroom Bookshelf

The Classroom Bookshelf is Moving

by Erika Thulin Dawes

The Yarn

Trying Something New: SPEED ROUND w/ Marla Frazee, Doug Salati, Dan Santat, and Amina Luqman-Dawson

by Travis Jonker

ADVERTISEMENT

Related Articles on SLJ

Debut Authors Counter Harmful Narratives with Kid Lit | A Guest Essay by Susan Azim Boyer

Resistance, Radical Empathy, and the Responsibilities of Privilege: An Interview with Tehlor Kay Mejia on “We Set the Dark on Fire”

On Parental Love & Addiction: Lauren Myracle

YA Authors Recast Their Problematic Faves

Four Debut YA Authors on Getting Published in a Pandemic and Staying True to Yourself

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Rachelia (Bookish Comforts) says

    July 15, 2012 at 3:17 am

    Human trafficking is such an important issue, and this is one of the few books I've seen that tackle this topic. I haven't read it yet, but it's been on my list since I first heard of it. From other interviews and guest posts I've read it sounds like the author really did her research, and knows her stuff, which I absolutely appreciate. I also think it's great that the story takes place in the U.S. Often times people think human trafficking is something that happens “over there” or in less developed nations – not in Canada or the U.S – our own backyards. But the sad truth is that it does! And we NEED to be talking about this!

  2. Anonymous says

    January 16, 2013 at 1:31 am

    Compelling post.

Trackbacks

  1. Prostitution – Modern Day Slavery | Political Eye Candy says:
    May 17, 2016 at 10:21 am

    […] be sure to take into account the human trafficking aspect of this issue, partially detailed by this […]

  2. Post #7 | Central America & Caribbean says:
    November 29, 2016 at 5:38 pm

    […] Sex Trafficking Statistics. (n.d.). In Fear in Writing, Fear in Life. Retrieved from https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2012/07/fear-in-writing-fear-in-life-guest-post-by-kim-purcell/ […]

ADVERTISEMENT

Archives

Follow This Blog

Enter your email address below to receive notifications of new blog posts by email.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

This coverage is free for all visitors. Your support makes this possible.

Primary Sidebar

  • News & Features
  • Reviews+
  • Technology
  • School Libraries
  • Public Libraries
  • Age Level
  • Ideas
  • Blogs
  • Classroom
  • Diversity
  • People
  • Job Zone

Reviews+

  • Book Lists
  • Best Books
  • Media
  • Reference
  • Series Made Simple
  • Tech
  • Review for SLJ
  • Review Submissions

SLJ Blog Network

  • 100 Scope Notes
  • A Fuse #8 Production
  • Good Comics for Kids
  • Heavy Medal
  • Neverending Search
  • Teen Librarian Toolbox
  • The Classroom Bookshelf
  • The Yarn

Resources

  • 2022 Youth Media Awards
  • The Newbery at 100: SLJ Celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the Award
  • Special Report | School Libraries 2021
  • Summer Reading 2021
  • Series Made Simple Spring 2021
  • SLJ Diverse Books Survey
  • Summer Programming Survey
  • Research
  • White Papers / Case Studies
  • School Librarian of the Year
  • Mathical Book Prize Collection Development Awards
  • Librarian/Teacher Collaboration Award

Events & PD

  • In-Person Events
  • Online Courses
  • Virtual Events
  • Webcasts
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Media Inquiries
  • Newsletter Sign Up
  • Content Submissions
  • Data Privacy
  • Terms of Use
  • Terms of Sale
  • FAQs
  • Diversity Policy
  • Careers at MSI


COPYRIGHT © 2023


COPYRIGHT © 2023