The Weight of Silence: Invisible Children of India

Shelley Seale
Dogs Eye View Press (2009)
ISBN 9780980232370
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (9/09)


Although most readers know there are abandoned children and poverty all over the world, it really won’t hit home until they read this true and heartbreaking story by author Shelley Seale.

We also know that each country and the US only want to show what works and how well each are doing to care for their people. The author is not discounting India’s attempt to show the better part of their country; she is showing that there are still many areas that have poverty, people without places to live and the basics that each of us take for granted on a daily basis.

The children of these deprived areas die of many diseases that in the US are treated on a daily basis. They scrounge for food in garbage and dumps. There are no bathrooms- they use the streets. Many children end up in orphanages hoping just to stay alive and maybe one day be returned to their families.

Ms. Seale takes us on a journey through the country, poverty-stricken villages and orphanages. She meets with the caregivers and children and sees the despair and desire to be loved and given the same opportunity as everyone else.

This isn’t a love and flower story – it is one of facts and personal observation. After reading this journey, I thought about all the requests for money that you see on TV for children in other countries and how I thought they all were a scam. There are many very dedicated, true to their mission charities. At the end of each chapter, Ms. Seale provides footnotes and in the back of the book she provides a list of organizations that are legitimate. Throughout the book she provides pictures from the thousands she has taken. Once you read “The Weight of Silence” by Shelley Seale and realize the true impact, you will hopefully change your mind and do a random act of kindness by helping these children.

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