AUTHOR - ADVENTURER - ADVOCATE
The Drawing Game, a novel for children 8-12 years, is about a Bangladeshi girl and boy who save themselves from child trafficking through a drawing game. While written for kids, quite a few parents and grandparents have enjoyed it as well.
THE DRAWING GAME
The Drawing Game is a story of two eleven-year-old Bangladeshi children, Nadia and Fayaz, whose friendship grows from their shared passion for drawing. During a period of famine, Nadia's village parents are tricked into selling her to work as a servant in Dhaka, the capital. Fayaz, a young boy in the new neighborhood, reaches out to Nadia, despite his family socially prohibiting it. The two children meet in secret to pose challenges for a drawing game, keeping score on which drawing wins their competition.
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These brief times with Fayaz are the bright spot in Nadia's days of drudgery. Unfortunately, Fayaz falls into a plight worse than Nadia's. Kidnapped to a remote seaside camp, he is forced to clean shells for tourist shops. Connected through their sketch pads and a Fairy Bluebird, each child embarks on a thrilling adventure. By recording their memories through art, they find the key to break from bondage and discover that in their drawing game, everyone wins.
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This fast-paced adventure novel also weaves in the story of two American children, Ivy and Beau, who move to Bangladesh due to their parents' work as scientists studying malaria. As Ivy and Beau discover the beauty of Bangladesh and its people, they cross paths with imperiled Nadia and Fayaz. Can they do anything to help? Ultimately the lives of the four children intersect in a harrowing and heartwarming climax.
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From the opening paragraphs, The Drawing Game invites middle-grade readers to become part of a high-stakes adventure. Readers will travel through verdant villages and a coastal rain forest, meet villains and heroes, and confront the perils of child-trafficking with two creative and determined eleven-year-old victims who learn that in saving others, they find the capacity to save themselves. The 49,000-word novel offers readers a challenge: Take a stand for what you know is right, and in doing so discover your power to make the world a better place.
A Born Filmaker
Young readers can experience the story's setting in Old Dhaka by watching a video that my son, Chas, produced when he was in a school film club, much like that of the character Beau. This is a photo of Chas (with guitar) at the time he made the video. The second photo is Chas at 7, who some say was born with a camera in his hand.
Dedication
The book is dedicated to my son, Chas, and his closest Bangladeshi friend, Faiyaz Khan
"A compelling book that takes readers through the heartbreak of child trafficking."
Reader Review
"It must be difficult to write a novel with plots and themes as dark as child trafficking and the disparate lives of the privileged and the poor in Bangladesh. But Deborah Llewellyn has done so, and she has done so by imbuing her characters, child and adult, with the courage to change and to reach, always, for hope."
Reader Review
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"…richly and colorfully detailed story of the determination and creativity of Bangladeshi children."
Reader Review
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"…the only way we ever right wrongs that have become an accepted part of a culture is to open the eyes of young people. THE DRAWING GAME does that in a gentle and loving way."
Reader Review
