Rani and the Fashion Divas: Star Sisterz, #4 [Paperback]

Anjali Banerjee (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 8 and up | Series: Star Sisterz

Rani longs to be part of the Fashion Divas, the most popular girls in school. But when she follows the mystery message, she finds something she never expected: a true friend.
 

Rani and the Fashion Divas is the fourth title in a new series of adventures written specifically for girls aged
8 - 12. This fun series follows a group of friends who receive mysterious messages and win charms as they grow in confidence. The stories emphasize friendship, fun, and empowerment.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anjali Banerjee is the author of Maya Running (Random House) which acclaimed children’s book author Paula Danziger praised as “terrific, funny, and inventive.” In February 2005 Anjali received Barnes and Nobles “Star of Washington” award, a promotion set up by local bookstores to spotlight exceptional local authors.

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 8 and up
  
• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Mirrorstone (November 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786937823
• ISBN-13: 978-0786937820
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.2 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,206,201 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anjali Banerjee was born in India, raised in Canada and California and received degrees from the University of California, Berkeley. Her books have received accolades in many review journals and newspapers. The Philadelphia Inquirer called her young adult novel, Maya Running (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House) "beautiful and complex" and "pleasingly accessible." The Seattle Times praised Anjali's novel for adults, Imaginary Men (Downtown Press/Pocket Books) as "a romantic comedy equal to Bend it Like Beckham."

Anjali has always loved to write. When she was seven, she penned her first story about an abandoned puppy on a beach in Bengal. Then, inspired by her maternal grandmother--an English writer who lived in India--she wrote a mystery, The Green Secret, at the age of nine. She illustrated the book, stapled the pages together and pasted a copyright notice inside the front cover. After that she churned out a series of mysteries and adventure novels with preposterous premises and impossible plots.

Growing up in a small town in Manitoba, Canada, Anjali's favorite family event was the weekly drive to the garbage dump to watch for bears. She also loved jaunts to the library, where she checked out the same Curious George books dozens of times. She adored a picture book called The Bear Who Couldn't Sleep, starring a baby bear who refused to hibernate in winter. Her favorite authors were Enid Blyton, Agatha Christie, Alexander Key, C.S. Lewis and others. Every night her father read to her from C.S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia or Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

After she grew up and finished university, Anjali tried on jobs like new sets of clothes--veterinary assistant, office manager and law student--before rediscovering her love for writing. Since then, Anjali's Pushcart Prize-nominated short fiction has appeared in several literary journals and in the anthology New to North America. She was a contributing writer for three regional history books and local newspapers before she began writing novels. An alumnus of Hedgebrook, an esteemed retreat for women writers on Whidbey Island, Anjali has been a speaker at the South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival (SALTAF®) at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., at many schools, libraries and writers' conferences, and she has led workshops for Field's End and the Whidbey Island Writers' Association MFA program.

Anjali loves hiking, reading, watching movies, supporting local animal welfare organizations, feeding birds, and playing piano. She lives in the Pacific Northwest, in a cottage in the woods, with her husband and five rescued cats.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Story About Belonging and Making Decisions, February 1, 2006

By 

A Customer (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rani and the Fashion Divas: Star Sisterz, #4 (Paperback)

Rani Sen is a member of brain bowl, an unknown at school with a single friend, and frizzy hair and boring clothes. This doesn't mean she never dreams about being different. Rani would love to be one of the Fashion Divas, a group of popular girls who swish through school in fashionable clothes, with all eyes on them.

Unfortunately, a RANDOM encounter with Weird Wendy, a girl who dresses outlandishly and doesn't care what anyone thinks of her, may sink Rani's chances forever. The Fashion Divas think Rani is friends with Weird Wendy and therefore must be as weird and unfashionable as she is.

To Rani's surprise, Wendy turns out to be interesting. She volunteers at a nursing home, and Rani starts getting caught up in the lives of the people there, especially one sweet old lady with a fascinating past. Meanwhile, the Fashion Divas decide to give Rani a second chance. Rani makes sure they have no idea how much time she's spending with Wendy at the nursing home. When Rani has to abandon Wendy and the nursing home crowd to be in the Divas fashion show, she doesn't even think twice about it --- or does she?

RANI AND THE FASHION DIVAS is a well-written, enjoyable story about figuring out who you really are and what price you're willing to pay for popularity. Although the popular girls in this book are not as cutthroat as they are in other works --- The Clique, for example, or Amy Goldman Koss's THE GIRLS --- Rani's conflicted feelings about belonging are very believable. She wants to belong to the Divas, be popular and fashionable, and still be herself --- and it takes some thinking to figure out what she wants more.

The fourth in the Star Sisterz series, RANI AND THE FASHION DIVAS continues the very minor paranormal element found in all the books --- so minor in this book that it could have been taken out of the story entirely without the reader noticing it. The strength here are the characters, particularly Rani and her family. Author Anjali Banerjee does a great job of depicting an Indian-American family. The cultural elements are clearly part of who Rani is, but they never overwhelm her character or seem stereotypical. Banerjee appears to pay particular attention to Tima, Rani's grandmother. Although unusual and idiosyncratic, Tima never fails to be an individual.

RANI AND THE FASHION DIVAS is a fun read that manages to depict an interesting, believable high school environment while also imparting some important lessons about making decisions.

--- Reviewed by Paula Jolin