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Characters/People edit see section history

• Lakshmi: Main character. Lives in a small village in Nepal, with her mother, stepfather, and a young baby. They are very poor, mostly because her stepfather gambles away all of their money. She dreams of being able to have "luxury items" like a tin roof for their hut, enough food to not be hungry all the time, and nice clothes.
• Mumtaz: Runs "Happiness House", a brothel. Mumtaz runs the house cruelly and efficiently. Mumtaz tells Lakshmi that she can leave once she has paid off her debt - the price Mumtaz paid for her originally.
• Gita: Friends with Lakshmi when they lived in the village together. Gita left the village a little while before Lakshmi did. The story is that she went to be a maid for a rich family in the city, however it can be inferred that she ended up in a brothel.
• Anita: Lakshmi's friend who has a crooked face because she got beaten for trying to run away from the Happiness House. She is afraid of the Americans who come to try to save them.
• Shahanna: A kind girl in the brothel. She helps Lakshmi and teaches her how to get by.
• Harish: Also known as the David Beckham Boy, he loves soccer dearly. His mother is one of the women in the brothel, Pushpa. He helps Lakshmi learn the language.
• The boy with the tea: He brings tea to the girls and they pay him and flirt with him. He's very sweet to Lakshmi.

Quotes edit see section history

• “"A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it's time to make a stew."”

• “"You stupid hill girl," she says. "You actually believe what she's told you?"Lakshmi's thoughts "I do. I have to"”

  Ruben

• “" Then Harish comes home from school, flushed and disheveled from his game of make- believe soccer. He beams at his mother, delighted to see her out of bed, then stops as he takes in her misery."”

  Valley ODESHO

• “"Even a man who gambles away what little we have on a fancy hat and a new coat," she says, "is better than no man at all."”

  Nati D.

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• “Simply to endure,” she says, “is to triumph.”

  Highlighted by 42 Kindle customers

• A son will always be a son, they say. But a girl is like a goat. Good as long as she gives you milk and butter. But not worth crying over when it’s time to make a stew.

  Highlighted by 33 Kindle customers

• Trying to remember, I have learned, is like trying to clutch a handful of fog. Trying to forget, like trying to hold back the monsoon.

  Highlighted by 31 Kindle customers

• This affliction—hope—is so cruel and stubborn, I believe it will kill me.

  Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers

• I have been beaten here, locked away, violated a hundred times and a hundred times more. I have been starved and cheated, tricked and disgraced. How odd it is that I am undone by the simple kindness of a small boy with a yellow pencil.

  Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers

• If you look hard enough, chaos turns into order the way letters turn into words.

  Highlighted by 28 Kindle customers

• If the crying of a young girl is the same to me as the bleating of the horns in the street below, what have I become?

  Highlighted by 24 Kindle customers

• A tin roof means that the family has a father who doesn’t gamble away the landlord’s money playing cards in the tea shop. A tin roof means the family has a son working at the brick kiln in the city. A tin roof means that when the rains come, the fire stays lit and the baby stays healthy.

  Highlighted by 17 Kindle customers

• Inside the bundle Ama packed for me are: my bowl, my hairbrush, the notebook my teacher gave me for being the number one girl in school, and my bedroll. Inside my head I carry: my baby goat, my baby brother, my ama’s face, our family’s future. My bundle is light. My burden is heavy.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

• When he looks, he sees cigarettes and rice beer, a new vest for himself. I see a tin roof.

  Highlighted by 13 Kindle customers

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

List the chapters of this book.

Glossary edit see section history

• Grudgingly: displaying or reflecting reluctance or unwillingness.
• Bleats: to utter the cry of a sheep, goat, or calf or a sound resembling such a cry.
• Immodest: not modest in conduct, utterance, etc.; indecent; shameless.
• Poinsettias: A tropical American shrub (Euphorbia pulcherrima) that has showy, usually scarlet bracts beneath the small yellow flowerlike inflorescences.
• Mirthlessly: Devoid of gladness and gaiety.
• Pummel-by Valley Odesho: to beat or thrash with or as if with the fists
• Rupee- by Valley Odesho: An Indian silver coin
• Porridge- by Valley Odesho: is a dish made by boiling oats (rolled, crushed, or steel cut) or other grains or legumes in water, and milk.
• Brothel- by Valley Odesho: a house where prostitutes are available
• Coaxing-by Valley Odesho: When someone is pleading or teasing someone to do something.
• Goondas by Ruben Lall: thugs or gangs it literally means people that work for a certain person
• Tin-Roof by Ruben Lall: this word has many meanings in the book which are: A tin roof means that the family has a father who doesn't gamble away the landlord's money playing cards in the tea shop, and the family has a son working at the brick kiln in the city, and last but least a tin roof means that when the rains come. the fire stays lit and the baby stays healthy.
• Prostitution by Ruben Lall: the act or practice of engaging in sexual activity. selling your your body for money
• Language by Ruben Lall: a nation or people considered in terms of their speech
• Monsoons by Ruben Lall: In India a season occurs which the southwest monsoon blows, commonly marked by heavy rains; rainy season.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Patricia McCormick (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Awards edit see section history

• Quill Award (2007: Young Adult/Teen)
• ALA Top 10 Best Book for Young Adults (2007)
• National Book Award (Finalist, 2007)
• National Public Radio - Top 100 Books of the Year 2007 (2007)
• Book Sense Pick (2007)
• California Young Reader Medal (2007)
• Gustav-Heinemann-Peace Prize (2008)
• Outstanding Books for the College Bound and Lifelong Learners (January 2009: Social Sciences)

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Children's Books › People & Places › Explore the World › Fiction › Asia
• Books › Children's Books › People & Places › Social Issues › Homelessness & Poverty
• Books › Teens › Social Issues › Sexual Abuse
• Books › Children's Books › Literature
• Books › Children's Books › Issues

More Books Like This edit see section history