A Group of One [Hardcover]

Rachna Gilmore (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 11 and up

A girl of mixed heritage discovers that both cultures are important parts of who she is.

Mr. Toller grins. "I guess we plain old regular Canadians need to know the history of other places to get a real and balanced view."
Plain old regular.
As in white.
It jolts through me like lightning. I almost bought his idea of regular--that's why I was afraid to read my grandmother's story.
My heart pounds, but I have to say it.
"Mr. Toller, I AM a regular Canadian."

Hey, Tara, what's your mother tongue?

It's questions like these that make fourteen-year-old Tara Mehta boil, especially when they're asked by teachers who ought to know better. Yes, her parents were raised in India, but Tara has lived in Ottawa her whole life -- she's as Canadian as everybody else. There are much more important things than where her family came from. Jeff, for instance. He's the new guy with the blue eyes and a brain that actually works.

But then she meets her grandmother for the first time. Naniji fought with Gandhi in the Indian Indepence movement, and she's horrified to learn that her grandchildren know almost nothing about their heritage. Tara resents her grandmother's attitude until she learns how Naniji came to join the fight for indepence. Shocked and angered by the history that she's never been taught in school, Tara decides to tell Naniji's story to her class. In the wake of the violently mixed reactions that follow, Tara comes to realize that most people need to expand their definition of what it means to be a "regular" Canadian -- including herself.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

A 15-year-old Canadian daughter of Indian immigrants gets embroiled in an inevitable clash of cultures in this skillful novel about loyalty, forging a sense of self, and history, both personal and political. Gilmore (Lights for Gita) effectively establishes the loving chaos of Tara's family her feminist mother, who constantly experiments with new careers, hobbies and accents (with varying degrees of success); Tara's two younger sisters; and her distracted father. As the action opens, a teacher has riled Tara by asking her to name her "mother tongue" and not accepting English for an answer. Shortly afterward, her father announces his mother will be paying an extended visit from India for the first time ever, plunging the family into a flurry of redecoration and her mother into pursed-lipped references to "Your Mother" and "Your Grandmother." Tension mounts as Tara learns the reasons for her mother's apprehension and, after her Naniji arrives, Tara vacillates between her allegiance to her mother and the riveting power of Naniji's stories about her experiences as part of Gandhi's Indian Independence movement. Gilmore is particularly adept at portraying the two formidable women and their relationship with each other; she similarly shines in conveying the laughter, love and also irritation of the distinctly individual sisters. Readers will embrace Tara as she stands up to her family and her school to bravely claim her own history and, along the way, reappraises her own assumptions. Ages 12-up.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-9-This novel asks a number of important questions within the framework of a good story. Tara, 15, considers herself Canadian and has never given much thought to her racial or cultural identity. Neither she nor her sisters know much about their parents' heritage. When their paternal grandmother arrives from India for a lengthy visit, the tensions in the family run high. The sisters learn that Naniji has never approved of their mother or her family because they were not active in India's independence movement. Naniji and her relatives, on the other hand, were leaders in the nonviolent protests initiated by Gandhi and suffered terribly as a result. At first angry and sullen in her grandmother's presence, Tara does an about-face as she learns the woman's story. She interviews Naniji for a history assignment that, when presented to the class, causes her classmates to think in new and unfamiliar ways. In addition to family difficulties, Tara's budding romance with a new boy in her class is complicated by multiple misunderstandings and thoughtless actions. The climax and resolution of these problems are dramatic and satisfying. As Tara seeks to define her own identity, she begs to be thought of as a "group of one," not stereotyped as a member of a larger group because of the color of her skin or the national origin of her parents. She changes a bit too quickly from being angry to serving as her grandmother's ally and champion but she is a strong protagonist. An excellent vehicle for discussion.
Bruce Anne Shook, Mendenhall Middle School, Greensboro, NC
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 11 and up
  
• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co. (BYR); 1st edition (July 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805064753
• ISBN-13: 978-0805064759
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.8 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,257,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended - for kids, parents and gransparents!, January 29, 2003

By 

avid reader (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Group of One (Hardcover)

The novel, written for kids 9 and over, is primarily about the upheavals that occur in the life of an Indian-Canadian family when the grandmother (Naniji) visits from India. The protagonist is Tara a lively and sensitive 15-year-old. She is initially resentful of her visiting grandmother because the grandmother seems to disapprove of Tara's mother's somewhat Western ways and indeed of the Canadian ways of the whole family: the kids don't know Hindi, nor about Diwali; they don't play the sitar and, worst of all, know nothing of the family's role and sacrifice during the Indian Independence movement.

This is too much for Tara: "This is the world I live in. But how do I fit? I'm not one of the true natives, the First Nations, and not one of the whites who marauded the globe colonizing, who tell the history of Canada from when they arrived. I'm too dark for the Samanthas and the rednecks, but not dark enough for Tolly, or Indian enough for Naniji, too Canadian, too Western. Always too something. Never just right."

Tara reads a paper at school about Naniji's role in the Indian Independence movement. The most evocative part of the book occurs when Tara alternates between wanting to read the paper to her class, and not wanting to because of how her friends will react to it and to her (how it will affect her acceptance within the group). She reads the paper anyway. As she had feared, some of her classmates do "shutter down" - close up by seeming to brand her as "other". But, unexpectedly, some of them actually congratulate her and thank her for introducing her to an aspect of history and of herself of which they had been unaware.

Her mother and Naniji are proud of her - that is, until Naniji hears Tara proclaim how she, Tara, is a "regular" Canadian. At this point Naniji "shutters down" because she cannot countenance the fact that her granddaughter is a proud Canadian - what of the family's heritage, sacrifice and history back in India? What of their allegiance to India?

"Naniji catches me staring and tries to smile. She's stiff, but it's not like before, with the criticism and disapproval and the hostility. Her eyes - they are hurt."

The resolution of the conflict within the family and within Tara's own mind is handled by Ms. Gilmore with great maturity and eloquence. She articulates opposing points of view with clarity and grace. Without talking down to the reader, she addresses sensitive issues such as race and color, assimilation and alienation, head-on. This is important especially because these issues are hardly ever addressed in a safe, non-ideological way, without putting one or the other side down as the victim or the aggressor, the turncoat or the conservative.

I highly recommend this book - not just for kids in this age group, but even for their parents and grandparents. In fact, I would go so far as to say this book should be made required reading for all kids (on any rung of the assimilation ladder) because it will create a better understanding and awareness of the inner script that guides our public lives.

To read more of this review, go to desijournal.com

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly Recommended - for kids, parents and gransparents!, January 29, 2003

By 

avid reader (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Group of One (Hardcover)

The novel, written for kids 9 and over, is primarily about the upheavals that occur in the life of an Indian-Canadian family when the grandmother (Naniji) visits from India. The protagonist is Tara a lively and sensitive 15-year-old. She is initially resentful of her visiting grandmother because the grandmother seems to disapprove of Tara's mother's somewhat Western ways and indeed of the Canadian ways of the whole family: the kids don't know Hindi, nor about Diwali; they don't play the sitar and, worst of all, know nothing of the family's role and sacrifice during the Indian Independence movement.

This is too much for Tara: "This is the world I live in. But how do I fit? I'm not one of the true natives, the First Nations, and not one of the whites who marauded the globe colonizing, who tell the history of Canada from when they arrived. I'm too dark for the Samanthas and the rednecks, but not dark enough for Tolly, or Indian enough for Naniji, too Canadian, too Western. Always too something. Never just right."

Tara reads a paper at school about Naniji's role in the Indian Independence movement. The most evocative part of the book occurs when Tara alternates between wanting to read the paper to her class, and not wanting to because of how her friends will react to it and to her (how it will affect her acceptance within the group). She reads the paper anyway. As she had feared, some of her classmates do "shutter down" - close up by seeming to brand her as "other". But, unexpectedly, some of them actually congratulate her and thank her for introducing her to an aspect of history and of herself of which they had been unaware.

Her mother and Naniji are proud of her - that is, until Naniji hears Tara proclaim how she, Tara, is a "regular" Canadian. At this point Naniji "shutters down" because she cannot countenance the fact that her granddaughter is a proud Canadian - what of the family's heritage, sacrifice and history back in India? What of their allegiance to India?

"Naniji catches me staring and tries to smile. She's stiff, but it's not like before, with the criticism and disapproval and the hostility. Her eyes - they are hurt."

The resolution of the conflict within the family and within Tara's own mind is handled by Ms. Gilmore with great maturity and eloquence. She articulates opposing points of view with clarity and grace. Without talking down to the reader, she addresses sensitive issues such as race and color, assimilation and alienation, head-on. This is important especially because these issues are hardly ever addressed in a safe, non-ideological way, without putting one or the other side down as the victim or the aggressor, the turncoat or the conservative.

I highly recommend this book - not just for kids in this age group, but even for their parents and grandparents. In fact, I would go so far as to say this book should be made required reading for all kids (on any rung of the assimilation ladder) because it will create a better understanding and awareness of the inner script that guides our public lives.

To read more of this review, go to desijournal.com