Thanks for stopping by! I'm Cori and I'm happy you've found your way here. If you're wondering why my blog is called "Let's Eat Grandpa," it's an old grammar joke: Let's eat, grandpa! Let's eat grandpa! (Punctuation saves lives.) 
Little Princes by Conor Grennan
Source: Review copy from the publisher via LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.
Finished: 1/5/11
Rating: 9 out of 10
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 304
To Be Published: January 25, 2011
Synopsis (from Publisher’s Weekly): Starred Review. 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.
Overall Impression: There are so many great things about this book that I beg you to go pre-order it right now. I have many wonderful things to say, but I don’t think any of my words will do Grennan’s work justice. Despite all the protestations of his friends and family, Grennan travels to Nepal to work with orphans for three months (I got the impression that as an adult he’d spent a total of about three minutes around kids). He ended up falling in love with the ridiculously-likeable kids (and a woman!) and finding a life-long passion to reunite trafficked kids with their families. Grennan’s writing is utterly readable, and he really brought the regions of Nepal to life. Some of the stories had me in tears. Then there were points where I was like, “ARE YOU NUTS?” (see: walking on the edge of a cliff at night with no sleep). Overall it made for a fantastic adventure. I seriously just want to give Grennan a hug and a big thank-you from humanity.
If you’ve followed this blog for any length of time, you know that I’m a supporter of work to end human trafficking (see the tab “How My Heart Breaks” above), so this story resonated with me in a very deep way. A lot of times I think, “I’m only one person — what can I do?” And then I read stories like this and realize that one person is more than enough to do some good work in this world. Grennan created the non-profit Next Generation Nepal, which I encourage you to support (I did!). Let’s reunite some families, readers!
Positives: Showed how one person with few resources can really make a difference. Funnier than most in this genre. Grennan is quite the writer.
Negatives: I loved it as a whole, but toward the end it seemed to veer away from the children a little too much to focus on his relationship with Liz. I liked the relationship bit, but I wanted to go back to those kids! I also wish he’d delved into his faith journey a little bit more, but could understand why they only touched on it — the book resonates with a wider audience without it.
Extras: “Like” Grennan on Facebook, Tweet with Grennan, Next Generation Nepal
Other books I’ve read by Conor Grennan: none
Other blogger opinions:
Steph Cowart: “This is THE non-fiction book to read of 2011.”
Mrs. Q, Book Addict: “It reads like fiction, and then you remember it’s a true story that happened not long ago.”
Rundpinne: “If I could, I would place a copy of Little Princes into the hands of every reader. It is a book not to be missed.”
Kritters Ramblings: “The lengths to which Conor went to help these families reunite kept me absolutely engrossed in the book.”
Legal gobbledygook: I received this book free from LibraryThing as part of their Early Reviewers program. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
