The Orphan Keeper (adapted for young audiences) by Camron Wright

 Chellamuthu lives in a poor village in India. His mother is strict and there is never enough food, but he faces his challenges with energy, intelligence and exuberance.  Then one day he is betrayed by some older boys and sold to kidnapers. His family, especially his mother, searches for him for weeks, and Chellamuthu tries to find a way to escape, but before he can, he is adopted by an American family.  He doesn't speak English, and everything is strange, but his new parents are kind and eventually he starts to forget about his life and family in India.  Sixteen years later a chance meeting reconnects him with his Indian heritage, and he begins to seek for the family he lost. 

This book is based on a true story, though many of the details are fictionalized.  I was surprised to learn that is it published by Shadow Mountain and that it was written by a Utah author.  I loved the detail about Chellamuthu's life in India and the emotions and experiences of Chellamuthu when he first arrived in America feel very authentic.  I was horrified to think that this probably not an isolated incident.  I have had several friends did foreign adoptions.  Were all of the kids really orphans, or part of a human trafficking business?  This would be a great book club title because it raises a lot of ethical questions.  Of course it was terrible that Chellamuthu was kidnapped and taken from his family, but his dad was rather abusive, and he really did have many more opportunities in America.  This is the young reader's version, so I imagine the harsher realities of his life are left out.  Am I a wimp to think that I am totally fine with that? (2022, 288 p)