Neela: Victory Song
Neela: Victory Song is a book in the Girls of Many Lands series focusing on Neela Sen. It was released in 2002 and available with the doll and as a separate purchase. The book was retired with the collection in 2005. Retail cost was $7.95.
Characters
Chapter by Chapter Summary
Chapter One: Wedding Preparations
Chapter Two: Bandits!
Chapter Three: Good-Byes
Chapter Four: The Secret Guest
Chapter Five: Bad News
Chapter Six: Alone in a City of Strangers
Chapter Seven: A Desperate Search
Chapter Eight: A Daring Plan
Chapter Nine: The Rescue Mission
Chapter Ten: Unsuspected Obstacles
Discusses a girl's life in India. Topics include:
- Details about how Indian life had continued even though World War Two had recently erupted in Europe.
- The region of Bengal and traditional housing.
- How Hindu marriages were arranged and what a bride was expected to do after the wedding.
- Why Neela would wear a sari and a bindi to the wedding.
- What a wedding 'dowry was made up of and who it was given to.
- How the British arrived in and occupied India and how they lived.
- Freedom fights and protesters.
- What Gandhi believed in and his boycotts.
- How the British handled the protesters.
- India receiving its independence in 1947, and the popular song Vande Mataram.
- Gandhi's influence on Martin Luther King Jr.
- Life in India today.
Extras
Each Girls of Many Lands book came with a detachable bookmark inside the back cover. This shows a portion of the illustration at the start of the book. Measures 7 3/16" x 2".
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The bookmark for Neela: Victory Song.
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The bookmark's reverse side.
Trivia
- Neela: Victory Song is the only book in the Girls of Many Lands series written in third person.
- The book was later released by Penguin Books and offered for sale in India.
Items Associated with Neela: Victory Song
- Neela Sen doll