Big Bad and the Bored Canary

Big Bad and the Bored Canary tells the harrowing story of a young bird named Nicolette. She lived in Kiev, Ukraine with her parents, but dreamed of adventure and traveling the world. One day a wolf, disguised as a bird, offers her an opportunity to go to the United States. Upon arriving in America, Nicolette is shocked to learn she had been deceived and is forced to work in a factory.

The Big Bad Books series is designed to forewarn children to the recruitment and control schemes exploited by human traffickers. Using fables and age-appropriate language, the aim of these books is to socialize kids with the reality that most crime is committed by acquaintances or people we know, who attempt to gain our trust using coercion, deception, and fraud, and less often by strangers and through kidnapping. Big Bad and the Bored Canary is loosely based on the case of United States v. Aleksandr Maksimenko. Maksimenko was a ringleader in a conspiracy to force Eastern European women to work in the United States. Under the guise of legitimate business, Maksimenko lured women from Ukraine and Russia into the United States and forced them to work and turn over the entirety of their earnings.