Too Heavy for Middle School

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Patricia McCormick’s Sold is absolutely heartbreaking. The novel discusses rape and the true horrors of human trafficking. It is truly a difficult read for anyone to get through. The rape, torture, and beatings that Lakshmi endures while in the “Happiness House” is a hard pill to swallow as an adult, and for middle schoolers it would be even harder. I think that this novel is truly magnificent; however, I would not teach this novel in my classroom, because of the horrible acts that take place.

Human trafficking is an important topic to discuss with middle schoolers, but I do not think that reading this novel with middle schoolers would be a good idea because it is hard to digest. I think that middle schoolers would have a hard time with this text because it discusses rape and beatings and the suffering that Lakshmi must go through while she is in the “Happiness House.” Lakshmi says “underneath the weight of him, I cannot see or move or breath. He fumbles with his pants, forces my legs apart, and I can feel him pushing himself between my thighs” (103). For middle schoolers this would be a heavy topic, and I don’t think that it would be appropriate to read with them. I think that in middle school it is important to discuss the topic of human trafficking; however, I do not think middle schoolers would be mature enough to handle what all Lakshmi went through while in the Happiness House. I would, however, pull some chapters from this novel that would be appropriate for middle schoolers and that would help them to understand why human trafficking is such an important topic, and that gives them a glimpse into what victims of human trafficking suffer through every day. One of the chapters that I would use in a middle school classroom is “A Cup of Tea,” because we see a glimpse into Lakshmi’s world, and understand her suffering, without the graphic details of her being raped by the men in the brothel.

Overall, I think that the novel is one that I would keep in my classroom so that students could choose to read it on their own if they wanted to; however, I would have a trigger warning associated with the novel, so that students know what all the novel entails before they begin reading it.

Comments

  1. Nalayna HyattOctober 2, 2020 at 9:06 PM

    Mikayla, I understand your hesitancy with introducing this book to the classroom, especially with middle schoolers. Perhaps you could teach individual chapters of this book like you said as well with some supplemental reading? I do think this would be an important to make your students aware of even if you do not use the book in it's entirety.

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  2. A'Keriah PraylowOctober 4, 2020 at 12:18 PM

    I understand your hesitation with teaching this novel. I do believe that middle-schoolers are denied a lot of knowledge out of fear that they can't handle it. Middle-schoolers today are exposed to way more than we were at their age. I would recommend being open to discussing heavier topics with them to help students become more aware.

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  3. Candace BeebeOctober 4, 2020 at 8:28 PM

    Mikayla, I completely agree with you. This book was difficult for me to read, so I would not recommend it to my middle schoolers. I agree with Nalayna, if you wanted to use parts of this book, I think you could pick out a few chapters and talk about them. But overall, I think that this topic is just too heavy. I think that as teachers we should ask ourselves "can we teach this topic/book," but we should also ask, "should we teach this topic/book". Just because we can doesn't always mean we should.

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