When Invisible Children Sing (Hardcover)

by Chi Cheng Huang (Author), Irwin Tang (Author) "A child..." (more)
Key Phrases: hundred bolivianos, other street children, banana car, Señora Lydia, Alonzo de Mendoza, Señora Lola (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Do you see our invisible children?" writes Huang, at the conclusion of his touching and sometimes painful book about the street children of La Paz, Bolivia. Huang, the founder of the Bolivian Street Children Project and an attending physician at Boston Medical Center, went to Bolivia to work with homeless children when he was fresh out of Harvard medical school. Looking to fulfill a sense of Christian mission as well as to come to grips with some of his personal history, he committed to spending a year caring for homeless children in an orphanage. His ministry quickly expanded from daytime medical care at the orphanage to nighttime care for the children on the streets of La Paz, and it is these later stories that Huang tells. He gives only enough of his own story to let the reader understand his lens, but it is the children's stories Huang cares about. Told simply and without exaggeration, each child's account speaks for itself, demonstrating the humanity of those who are usually invisible. Always honest about his own anger, frustration, confusion and even his doubts about God at times, Huang inspires readers to reach out, even to just one child, and make a difference in a life. (Oct.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Pediatrician and internist Huang is a self-described angry man who traveled to La Paz, Bolivia, to work in the streets as a fourth-year Harvard medical student in 1997. He wanted to do something about the thousands of Bolivian children who live in filth, disease, and squalor. He learned, among other things, that street children are far from innocent. But that doesn't begin to justify, he says, their unspeakable living conditions. Indeed, the stories he tells range from the appalling--a street infant starved to death in a hospital because it was up to her mother to provide food; when she failed to do so, hospital staff watched the baby die--to the sickening: 89 percent of street children, including those as young as four, inhale paint thinner to stay warm through the frigid Andean nights. And worse: vigilantes rape, beat, and even kill street children to "cleanse" the streets. Huang's powerful testimony sounds a clarion call and ends with a plea for support for his Bolivian Street Children Project. Donna Chavez
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: SaltRiver (September 6, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1414306164
• ISBN-13: 978-1414306162
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #428,300 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Improved my Understanding of Poverty, October 15, 2006

By	Susan J. Metoxen (Hopkins, MN United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is interesting on several levels. First, it tells the fascinating story of Dr. Huang and his work with the street children of Bolivia. His approach of focusing on the stories of several children makes it very easy for the reader to connect with and understand the children.

In addition, the book really explains generational and intractable poverty and the forces that keep it in place. I suspect similar forces are in place in all settings, even in a country as wealthy as the United States. Moreover, he describes his own childhood living with a family recently immigranted from Taiwan and his family's experience with the health care system in the U.S. It is a must read for employees in social service settings.

Last, because he is an physician, he describes in detail the medical and mental health issues faced by the children, and I would recommend this book to be required curriculum for anyone planning to do medical mission work. (Or work with the homeless in the U.S. for that matter.)

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compelling narrative, January 13, 2007

By	G. P. Lennox (California USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Dr. Chi writes an exceptionally transparent account of his own spiritual journey and personal passion for helping "the least of these". He wrestles with doubt and anger, painfully discovers the limits of compassion, and ultimately develops a successful strategy to rescue a handful of the hundreds of abandoned children from the otherwise hopeless streets of La Paz, Bolivia.

This book is a quick read, but opens one's eyes to the humanity of children and adults living on the streets--whether at home or at thirteen thousand feet in the high desert of the Andes. Neither liberal nor conservative, neither utopian nor cynical; the author offers a balanced view of reality on the streets of Bolivia's capital city without the burden of a philosophical agenda. His insights have value in understanding the plight of abandoned children around the world, and hints at potential solutions which offer hope for children like those described so eloquently in Dr. Chi's text.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A look at Bolivian street kids, August 3, 2007

A Kid's Review

This book, When Invisible Children Sing, is a true story about a Taiwanese doctor who was living in America. He decided to help the street kids in Bolivia with his medical abilities. This book is about how Dr. Chi helps some children. You will hear of Mercedes, Gabriel, Vicki, little Rosa, and many more. One of the stories is of Danalia. She has two kids. Their names are Natalia and Maria. Maria is a 5 month-old baby. She gets very sick and needs to be taken to the hospital. Meanwhile, Dr. Chi is on vacation. Danalia reluctantly takes Maria to the hospital. Even though Maria goes to the hospital, she dies. I like this book because I like medical books and mission books. This book combines the two subjects. I would definitely recommend it because it is an excellent book; but not for anyone younger than junior high, because the book talks about sexual abuse. The content is more for older children. You don't want to miss it!