It has been almost seven years since Aruna's family left their native India for Ohio, and Aruna, now in sixth grade, is desperate to be a "normal" American. She wishes she looked more like her classmates and she envies her best friend's all-American home, complete with patchwork quilt on the wall, friendly pup under the table and apron-wearing Mom serving up homemade apple pie for an after-school snack. This lack of subtlety characterizes the book as a whole. Using Aruna's trip to visit relatives in India to interject descriptions of contemporary Indian ways and traditions, the author presents an awkward jumble of fact and fiction. The writing is further marred by jarring transitions and wooden dialogue. What Aruna learns in India-pride in her heritage; self-acceptance-is passed along to the reader without benefit of art: this book never escapes its didactic agenda. Ages 8-12.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Gr. 4^-7. Eleven-year-old Aruna is an Indian in the U.S.--a very self-conscious Indian at that. Fearful of being labeled different, she avoids other students from her native country and cringes when her parents share information about India with curious friends and neighbors. But a summer trip back to Bangalore to visit family helps Aruna gain a new appreciation for her heritage and its customs and traditions. Likewise, it helps her realize that many of America's ways are of value as well. Although the story is somewhat saccharine, it does offer children a glimpse at the difficulties of being a minority in a foreign country. It also puts many Indian traditions into a twentieth-century perspective, something rarely seen in children's literature today. Frances Bradburn
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