Dr. James Levine's True Story Behind "The Blue Notebook"

This past Saturday I had the privilege of volunteering at the “Breaking the Chains of Modern Day Slavery” event as part of my role as a community educator. During this event I was able to hear Dr. James Levine, author of the riveting novel “The Blue Notebook”, talk about modern day sexual slavery in India.

Dr. Levine’s book chronicles the life of Batuk, a teenager who is trapped in the notorious street cages of Mumbai. Batuk’s journey is heartbreaking and impossible to stop thinking about once you’ve finished the book. It is certainly a call to action—it definitely was for me.

I’d read Dr. Levine’s book a few years ago—in fact, it was one of the books that inspired me to become a human rights advocate. After I finished the last page, I quickly googled Dr. Levine, completely intrigued by this story and wondering what his personal inspiration was behind his novel. I was surprised and delighted to see that we worked for the same company, so I emailed him and he graciously answered my questions.

I’ll be honest—Dr. Levine was nothing like what I expected when I met saw him speak in person. First of all he is British, which is kind of hilariously unsettling when the voice you’ve assigned to someone completely doesn’t match at all what you’ve imagined. Secondly, Dr. Levine is not dark and broody like I’d pictured from his book, but quite humorous and hopeful in his delivery of his experiences. If you get the chance to meet Dr. Levine or hear him speak about “The Blue Notebook”, take it. You won’t be disappointed. Unfortunately because I was manning a booth for Mission21, I didn’t get a chance to speak to Dr. Levine or get my book signed. But I’m confident our paths will meet again!