Yes, Sold Is Banned!

Sold tells the story of Lakshmi, a thirteen-year-old girl from a poor mountain village in Nepal, who believes she is being sent to work as a maid in the city. Instead, she is sold into a brothel in Kolkata, India. Written in spare, devastating verse, McCormick’s novel follows Lakshmi through her captivity, depicting both the horrors of sexual slavery and the small acts of courage and connection that sustain her. The book grew from McCormick’s own reporting trips to the red-light districts of Kolkata.

With 85 bans in the 2023-24 school year, Sold has been removed from school libraries across the country despite being widely used in curricula about human trafficking and global social justice. Challengers point to the book’s sexual content, which describes the abuse Lakshmi endures. Educators and anti-trafficking organizations have pushed back, arguing that removing a book about sexual exploitation because it contains descriptions of sexual exploitation defeats the purpose of education. The National Book Award finalist has been caught up in the broad sweep of book removals across Florida, Texas, Iowa, and other states.