Sheba's Song

by J.A. Harbison, Deepika Davidar (Editor)

The Story of an Indian Girl and her American Sponsor

Sheba is a little girl growing up in a slum in Madras (now called Chennai). Her life changes when a farmer in America decides to sponsor her education. From the age of eight to sixteen, Sheba studies in an English medium school and becomes aware that life has so much more to offer if only she can escape being married off early. The pangs of growing up are sensitively chronicled. Sheba must battle a society in which the odds are always stacked against women. Much like any other girl, she deals with maintaining her grades, an unwanted suitor, being misunderstood by her parents and her own conflicting desires and dreams.

Alongside Sheba's story is a parallel the life of Clayton Crenshaw, Sheba's sponsor from a small town in Iowa, America. Through his letters, written faithfully over his years of sponsorship, Sheba comes to know an ordinary man and his family who sought to do something extraordinary by helping an unknown girl in a faraway land. Written in an informal, chatty manner, his letters offer her encouragement far beyond mere finances. They also afford Sheba a glimpse into the life of a simple, hardworking, god-fearing farmer.

The book is written in hindsight. Sheba finds Mr. Crenshaw's letters many years later. She is now a mother and teacher. Upon rereading his letters, she feels the urge to tell Mr.Crenshaw her story; to express now, all that she could never have expressed as a child. The ensuing tale is Sheba's Song .

183 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Bev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fictionalized account of the relationship between a man in the United States and his sponsored child from the slums of India, what his money helped her get and how his moral support helped her to better her life as an adult. The book is one long letter to her sponsor, written by the adult Sheba, telling him the things that was unable to write to him when she was a child. It is interspersed with letters written by the sponsor talking about the life of himself and his family. Really a very good thing to read when you sponsor a child, especially if you sponsor one in India, because you learn a lot about the life these children lead and how such a seemingly small thing from a caring person on the other side of the world can literally change a life.

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reads like a novel, but is a fascinating, educational, and inspiring story of how an Indian girl's life was affected by her U.S. sponsor.