The Little Princes are holding my blog hostage

I’m not sure I’ve ever been more excited about a book than Conor Grennan’s Little Princes, which comes out next week. I want to support it in every possible way I can and I hope you’ll help me.

Conor went to Nepal to volunteer at an orphanage. When he learned that many of the kids were trafficked, he decided to do something about it. He setup Next Generation Nepal that sought to reconnect trafficked children with their parents.

I’ve been following Conor’s blog, Conor’s Mildly Thrilling Tales, for years. We were both part of the BootsnAll blogging network when I stumbled upon him. Conor’s writing is hilarious and powerful, self-deprecating and witty. My only complaint is that he doesn’t update his blog enough. I’m not sure he’ll remember this, but a while back I sent him a note saying, “Dude you should write a book.” Well, he did.

And now I want everyone I know to do everything they can to support Conor, Little Princes, and Next Generation Nepal.

Here’s Conor on writing Little Princes…

But in writing it, I realized it was more than just their story. It was the story of how somebody like me, somebody with no relevant skills whatsoever, no deep passion for volunteering, no profound desire to make an impact on anyone’s life but his own, found himself sacrificing his comfortable way of life to try to improve the lives of these young children on the other side of the world.

That became perhaps the most important element in the story for me. I am desperate for readers, especially younger readers, to see what getting involved can do. How it can change your life so completely, and in ways you could never imagine. How volunteering, whether it is in an impoverished third world nation or in your hometown, requires only that you show up. Don’t worry how little of your time or resources you may have to offer—just offer it, and see what happens.

The fact is, volunteering is no longer a fringe activity—the world gets smaller every day and we have a responsibility to understand what it looks like. It’s not how the other half lives, it’s how the other 90% live. And I believe that each of us has a responsibility to know what those lives look like, even if we only give one single day of our life to discovering it. Because it could have been us.

In support of Conor, his amazing book, and his awesome work, I’m letting Little Princes hold my blog hostage until 100 people commit to one of the following:

1) Buy little Princes from Better World Books, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, your local independent bookstore, or wherever. A portion of all sales go to support Next Generation Nepal;

2) Donate to Next Generation Nepal;

3) Like Next Generation Nepal and Little Princes both on facebook and then tell all of your friends about it;

4) Blog about Next Generation Nepal.

In order for your action to count, you have to report it in the comments of this post on my blog or on facebook. Until 100 people commit to at least one of the above, I’ll be blogging each day about nothing other than Little Princes, Conor, Nepal, and child trafficking.

This is an important book and cause. And I 100% guarantee that you’ll love Conor’s writing. Here’s a sneak peek and here’s Conor talking about Little Princes.