Noi’s family is suffering because demand for housing is destroying their agrarian way of life. Developers are buying up farm land in order to build vacation homes for city dwellers and foreigners. Noi’s father, who had always worked in the fields and brought home plenty of food to provide for his family, is now a brick-layer with only intermittent work to rely upon. Noi’s sister Ting is sent to work in a factory to help make money for the family. Because children in her village don’t go beyond grade school, at 11 this will be Noi’s last year of school. She dreams of finding a way to escape her fate of following her sister to the factory.
Marsden’s book was published recently, in 2007. According to a report from the U.S. Department of Labor, the minimum age for work in Thailand should have been raised to 15, which means that Ting would have been working legally. The issue of child labor is certainly an important one for discussion, but the book handles it in such a way that it is not scary or hard to understand. Marsden does an excellent job of helping readers understand the family’s finances in a grade level appropriate way.
This book is on grade level for third grade, but older students may be able to get more out of the subject matter.
Marsden provides a glossary to help with vocabulary (as thai words are sprinkled throughout) but no pronunciation guide.
Sex, Nudity, Dating – None.
Profanity – None.
Death, Violence and Gore – Kun Mere teases Kun Pa about going to cockfights when she knows he is going to play chess. Noi burns her hand on an iron and it blisters.
Drugs, Alcohol and Smoking – Grandmother (Kun Ya) smokes cigars.
Frightening or Intense Things – None, although I kept worrying that the grandmother would die (she doesn’t).
