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  • Chained

Chained

Author
Publication Date
May 20, 2012
Genre / Grade Band
Fiction /  4th − 5th
Language
English
Chained
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Description

To work off a family debt, 10-year-old Hastin leaves his desert village in India to work as a circus elephant keeper but many challenges await him, including trying to keep Nandita, a sweet elephant, safe from the cruel circus owner.

Publication date
May 20, 2012
Genre
Fiction
ISBN-13
9780374312374
Lexile Measure
770
Publisher
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (Byr)
BISAC categories
JUV002080 - Juvenile Fiction | Animals | Elephants
JUV030020 - Juvenile Fiction | People & Places | Asia
JUV039130 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Runaways
JUV031010 - Juvenile Fiction | Performing Arts | Circus
Library of Congress categories
Animals
Elephants
India
Circus
Treatment
Conduct of life
Child labor

School Library Journal

Gr 4-6--Ten-year-old Hastin lives in rural India in a thatched-roof mud hut with his widowed mother, Parvati, and younger sister, Chanda. When Chanda falls ill and is hospitalized in the city, Parvati must borrow money to pay for the expenses, and young Hastin determines to repay that loan by securing work as an elephant caretaker. His new employer, Timir, is a mean-tempered taskmaster who transports the boy to a distant jungle and orders him to catch an elephant for his future circus. While Hastin hates the idea of trapping one, he becomes more troubled once Nandita, the chained animal, is brought to the circus grounds. In spite of his loving care of her, the trainer stabs her with a sharp hook to teach her tricks. The one person Hastin trusts is Ne Min, Timir's Burmese cook, who befriends him and seems to have much knowledge of the ways of elephants. He supports Hastin with food, medicine, and sage advice on caring for Nandita. When Timir justly suspects the boy of trying to run away, he penalizes him by lengthening his term of employment. Then Nadita is put in leg shackles, making hope of escape more remote, but Hastin soon proves he is brave enough to defend his own freedom and that of his beloved elephant. With a well-knit plot, vivid setting, and tightening web of suspense, this novel is both an affecting animal story and a well-paced adventure.--Susan W. Hunter, Riverside Middle School, Springfield, VT

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Lynne Kelly

Lynne Kelly is a sign language interpreter and a writer. Chained is her first novel. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Great Stone Face Book Award
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Nominee 2013 - 2014
Alabama Camellia Award
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Winner 2013 - 2014
California Young Reader Medal
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Nominee 2015 - 2015
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