Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

( 84 )

Overview

An astonishing testament to true courage, the transformative power of love, and the ability of one man to make a real difference.

In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan embarked on a yearlong journey around the globe, beginning with a three-month stint volunteering at an orphanage in civil war–torn Nepal. But a shocking truth would forever change his life: these rambunctious, resilient children were not orphans at all but had been taken from their families by...

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Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal

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More About This Book

Overview

An astonishing testament to true courage, the transformative power of love, and the ability of one man to make a real difference.

In search of adventure, twenty-nine-year-old Conor Grennan embarked on a yearlong journey around the globe, beginning with a three-month stint volunteering at an orphanage in civil war–torn Nepal. But a shocking truth would forever change his life: these rambunctious, resilient children were not orphans at all but had been taken from their families by child traffickers who falsely promised to keep them safe from war before abandoning them in the teeming chaos of Kathmandu. For Conor, what started as a footloose ramble became a dangerous, dedicated mission to unite youngsters he had grown to love with the parents they had been stolen from—a breathtaking adventure, as Conor risked everything in the treacherous Nepalese mountains to bring the children home.

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Editorial Reviews

From Barnes & Noble

It was supposed to be the short stint good deed that would justify Conor Grennan's yearlong footloose global joyride. Instead, it turned into a long-time commitment. When 29-year-old Conor began as a temporary volunteer at Nepal's Little Princes Children's Home, he thought that he would be working with orphans. What he discovered was even more heart-wrenching: The youngsters at the Kathmandu home were actually pawns in a cynical child trafficking scheme; supposedly guided to safety during the Nepali civil war by con artists who extracted huge sums from their poor villager parents. Grennan dropped his extended vacation plans and began a dangerous quest to reunite the abandoned children with their parents. This is his moving story. A fine suggestion for readers of Three Cups of Tea.

Neil White
"Funny, touching, tragic. Conor Grennan’s Little Princes is a remarkable tale of corruption, child trafficking and civil war in a far away land — and one man’s extraordinary quest to reunite lost Nepalese children with their parents."
Daytona Beach News
"‘Little Princes’ is a tale of determination, courage and love that will not leave you unchanged."
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
"While the story is amazing, sincere and touching, it is also a pleasure to see how the author grows, both in personality and style over the five years that the memoir covers."
Los Angeles Times
In the tradition of "Three Cups of Tea" and "Mountains Beyond Mountains," this book provides proof (there cannot be too much) of the value of volunteer work.
USA Today
"With a light touch and refreshing candor, Grennan in Little Princes tells the story of how a good-looking University of Virginia grad with wanderlust ended up risking his life to find, then reunite, children with their families in Nepal, one of the poorest countries in the world."
New York Journal of Books
"The beauty of this book is partly the fact that it is a memoir. But it is also more than that. I defy you to not be inspired or moved by this saga."
San Francisco Chronicle Book Review
"The author stumbles into volunteering in an orphanage in Nepal and gets involved in reuniting trafficked children with their families. The energy of these children will make you laugh even though they’ve been through hardship and loss."
Publishers Weekly
Grennan, who once worked at the East West Institute in Prague, embarked on a round-the-world trip in 2006, starting with a stint volunteering for an orphanage six miles south of Kathmandu. The orphanage, called the Little Princes Children's Home, housed 18 children from the remote province of Humla, rescued from a notorious child trafficker who had bought the children from poor villagers terrified of the Maoist insurgents eager for new recruits; the parents hoped to keep their children safe, but the children often ended up as slaves. Grennan was stunned by the trauma endured by these children, who he grew to love over two months, and after completing his world tour, returned to the orphanage and vowed not only to locate seven Humla orphans who had vanished from a foster home, but also to find the parents of the children in the orphanage. This required starting up a nonprofit organization in America, Next Generation Nepal, raising funds, buying a house in Kathmandu for the children's home, and trekking into the mountains of Humla to locate the parents. Grennan's work is by turns self-pokingly humorous, exciting, and inspiring. (Feb.)
Library Journal
Author Grennan (www.conorgrennan.net) was a self-proclaimed spoiled, selfish young American when he set off on a yearlong trip around the globe in search of adventure, but a three-month stint volunteering at an orphanage in war-torn Nepal turned his life around. Upon discovering that the "orphans" of whom he quickly grew fond were actually separated from their families by child traffickers, Grennan realized his life calling—reconnecting these children with their families. Together with Farid Ait-Mansour, he worked tirelessly toward this effort, eventually founding the nonprofit charity Next Generation Nepal (www.nextgenerationnepal.org). Grennan is the rare author who can aptly and skillfully tell of his own awakening; he beautifully and melodiously renders the many accents he encountered along his journey. Listeners will be moved; for anyone interested in Nepalese history, humanitarian work, and meaningful self-betterment. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 9/15/10.—Ed.]—Susan Baird, formerly with Oak Lawn P.L., IL
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780061930065
  • Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
  • Publication date: 12/27/2011
  • Pages: 320
  • Sales rank: 51,963
  • Product dimensions: 5.36 (w) x 8.34 (h) x 0.82 (d)

Meet the Author

Conor Grennan

After volunteering at the Little Princes Children’s Home in the village of Godawari in 2004, Conor Grennan eventually returned to Nepal to launch Next Generation Nepal (NGN), a nonprofit organization dedicated to reconnecting trafficked children with their families. He resides in Connecticut with his wife and two children.

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Table of Contents

A Note on the Crisis in Nepal ix

Prologue 1

Part I The Little Princes 3

Part II Around the World and Back 57

Part III Seven Needles in a Haystack 95

Part IV Into the Mountains 153

Part V Liz 221

Afterword 277

Acknowledgments 281

About Next Generation Nepal 283

Index 284

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Customer Reviews

Average Rating 4.5
( 84 )
Rating Distribution

5 Star

(55)

4 Star

(14)

3 Star

(10)

2 Star

(2)

1 Star

(3)

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See All Sort by: Showing 1 – 20 of 85 Customer Reviews

  • Posted August 14, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Open your hearts

    My tears have subsided so here goes the review. A can't-put-down book which will make you believe in the goodness of humanity (at the same time you are reading about the horrors of child trafficking). This is the story of one man who fell in love with a group of children in Nepal and took the time and resources to help them. I appreciated the author's self-doubt, cheered at his blossoming romance, and celebrated his meetings with parents of the children. I will continue to recommend this book, as it is a story which needs to be told.

    5 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted October 26, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    Highly Recommended -- very easily read and a great true story

    This book WAS amazing! It was so easy to read and this is a great story. Conor Grennan went to Nepal to work with the orphans at the Little Princes orphanage and never expected to become so involved with them. His descriptions of the children were so wonderful I could see them jumping around and hanging all over him. I fell in love with them as I read his book. He was so courageous to take on this mission -- to find the families of the children who were taken away to Kathmandu and left there. Their families thought they were sending them away to a better life and an education, but the man they sent them off with kept them in a home and charge tourists to come see them. Anyway, Conor helped many of the families find out about their children and some of them even came to get them and take them back home. It was a very inspiring book and, as I said, very very easy to read. It just flowed from one page to the next. It was great!

    3 out of 3 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted August 8, 2011

    Nepalese Travel Memoir

    Little Princes is a memoir of the author's experiences helping trafficked children in Nepal. Originally, he decides to visit Nepal in order to do three months of volunteer work at an orphanage called Little Princes. During his stay, he discovers that these children are, for the most part, not orphans; a trafficker told their poor, rural parents lies and took them away to make money off them, such as by selling them as servants. This knowledge drives Grannan to creating a nonprofit organization called Next Generation Nepal, dedicated to housing, nurturing, and educating these children and to reuniting them with their families.

    Grennan vividly and often humorously describes his process from awkwardness with the children to affection and brotherhood with them. The memoir is an eloquently and ardently descriptive personal account of the author's experience in Nepal, sprinkled with fascinating cultural and geographical details. Even if I hadn't visited Nepal in 2007 and 2008, I would have had no trouble visualizing the places he describes. Grennan's account is honest and humble, showing the ups and downs of how he went about helping the lost children of Nepal and the learning process he went through. This memoir will appeal to anyone interested in Asia, in travel memoirs, or in nonprofit organizations.

    3 out of 4 people found this review helpful.

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  • Posted January 25, 2011

    more from this reviewer

    A Genuine Story

    I got this book for free.

    "Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal" by Conor Grennan is a memoir of the author's time as a volunteer in an orphanage in Nepal. Not only did Mr. Grennan volunteer, but he also went above and beyond to find the long lost families of these children who were never orphaned but used and manipulated by war profiteers.

    Conor Grennan, fresh from a job at Prague goes on a whirlwind world wide trip in 2006. He starts his adventure volunteering for an orphanage called "Little Princes Children's Home). Turns out the kids are not orphans but victims of a notorious child trafficker which has promised their parents protection from the Maoist revolutionaries. However, more often than not the children end up as slaves.

    Stunned by their stories, Grennan sets on a mission to locate the parents

    "Little Princes" by Conor Grennan is the story of how one man can make a difference. Volunteering with young children without any experience, the author finds himself at Little Princes Children home in Nepal and quickly comes to think of the kids as family.

    The story of how the kids came to the orphanage is distributing. A man, known to the authorities but with political clout, has promised poor parents to take care of their children, saving the children from forced labor, slavery or joining the rebel army. The parents, poor as they were, scraped together a hefty sum to insure their child's future. Once he got the money the monstrous child trafficker abandoned the kids, forced to work or sold them.

    Conor Grennan trekked through the mountains, at great peril and huge personal risk to remedy the situation and find the children's parents -assuming they were still alive. As he tells his tales Mr. Grennan weaves in his love affair and eventual marriage to the lovely Liz.

    The book is written in a pleasant manner but felt slightly rushed. However, that's OK - as a former backpacker (in South America) I thought the style suited the storyteller. The book is enjoyable and readable while not giving way to sentimental moments. It comes across that Grennan is one of the "good guys" and is telling a genuine story while sharing credit with those who helped him along the way.

    While it is obvious that Mr. Grennan tries to shine a positive light on those that helped him, he still makes them somewhat dimensional instead of a cardboard figure (after all, even in the US you cannot be straight as an arrow in order to successfully navigate the bureaucracy).

    While the story is amazing, sincere and touching it is also a pleasure to see how the author has grown, both in personality and style over the five years in which the memoir takes place.

    3 out of 5 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted September 19, 2012

    AMAZING

    As a highschool student,I was reluctant to read a nonfiction book. This book will forever change my view of not obly the world, but life as well.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 16, 2012

    I hate to sound mean but there's a sympathy gene missing if you

    I hate to sound mean but there's a sympathy gene missing if you don't like this book. VERY WELL written, quick read. A fantastic read for all ages. You won't be disappointed.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 31, 2012

    This is my new favorite book. Inspiring story and entertaining

    This is my new favorite book. Inspiring story and entertaining read.

    2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 13, 2013

    More than highly recommended, a must read!!!!!!!!!

    This is one of the best books I have read in many years. I am still reading and can not put it down. I wish it would not end. Excellent. Writers makes you feel as though you are actually there. Wonderful. Love it.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted December 14, 2012

    EVERYONE MUST READ THIS

    If you read this you will be better off in life. It's a story of hope, love, friendship, determination. A TRUE LIFE story of the unlikely hero doing amazing things. Grennan is your average american, except for the fact that he wanted to spend his entire life's savings on a trip around the world. To compentsate for this act of undeniable selfishness he volunteers at a children's orphanage. This "once-in-a-life-time-I'll-never-do-it-again" thing spirals into something much greater. He rescues lost children. He reunites them with their families. He starts a non-profit organization that's still going strong, and he finds love. This is a story everyone should read. It shows that we all can do anything that must be done to make the world a better place, if only our efforts match our passion for the cause. I LOVE this book. It's the most inspiring story I've ever encountered. It addresses this serious and horrifying problem we have in today's world in a serious, realistic way, yet the way Grennan tells it is funny and heart warming. It lifts you up yet explains the horrible reality of the situation at just the right parts in just the right way. The guy deserves an award. Please read this book. It will change your life fore the better. I gave it five stars, but it really deserves ten.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 24, 2012

    Loved

    Conor's journey over the past 8+ years is inspiring. His story has humor and love. It has fight and strength. It shows that even one person can make a change that effects many. Conor and all of the volunteers involved with Nepal's Littles Princes (& princesses) are doing amazing work. This story wont let you down. It gives you something to be thankful for and something to have hope for.

    1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted May 14, 2013

    Must read!

    As a history nerd I was instantly intrigued by the sample version and had to buy the book. This account is touching, chilling, eye awakening, and really heart warming. After finishing the book I instantly found myself researching Nepal as well as NGN. Amazing account that everyone should read!

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  • Anonymous

    Posted November 23, 2012

    GOOD BOOK

    I read this book before it is great.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 11, 2012

    Little princes

    This book is amazing! It is a detailed and fun book to read.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted April 12, 2012

    Just a question?

    Is this book sad?

    0 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 27, 2012

    Great book

    Such a touching story about volunteerism and the drive to help others. Very inspiring to me as a social worker.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted March 1, 2012

    Highly recommend

    Amazing and life changing book

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  • Anonymous

    Posted February 21, 2012

    Highly Recommended!!! Loved it!!!!!

    Little Princes was easy to read. I didn't want to put it down. I just wish I could see photos of the children. Sincere thanks to Conor Grennan for sharing his journey with us!!!

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  • Posted September 29, 2011

    Insperational and an eye opener

    I thought this book was very inspirering and it was easy to read. It opened my eyes to the things that happen around the world and shows that one person can make a difference if they really want to. Read it, it is worth it. Also you will be helping the children by buying the book because a portion of the proceeds goes to next generation nepal.

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  • Anonymous

    Posted June 18, 2011

    Inspiring

    An amazing story that makes yoy laugh, cry, and appreciate your life

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  • Posted April 14, 2011

    Beautiful Story

    This has by far surpassed all my previous favorites. I have never been more moved by a story than I have by Little Princes. It's one of those books that take you out of your comfort zone, it leaves you asking questions and eager to go out and get answers. This book led me to go on and research more. I'm buying this book for everyone I know come Christmas.

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