😍🤩 ( )

It's 1967, and Ariel Goldberg is trying to cope with her older sister’s elopement with a man from India and estrangement from the family, the financial troubles of their family-owned bakery, and her own struggles at school. Narrated in the second person, Hiranandani perfectly captures this turbulent period in history through the lens of a sympathetic and compelling preteen girl. (Sydney Taylor Middle Grade Winner) ( )

It’s 1967, and Ariel Goldberg’s adored older sister, Leah, has fallen for Raj, an immigrant college student from Bombay.

Their parents disapprove: To them, it’s bad enough that Leah wants to marry someone of a different race, even worse that he isn’t Jewish. After Leah elopes without even a letter to her sister, 11-year-old Ari is forced to reckon with a new understanding of her place within her family as the daughter who is now expected to take on the good-girl role. But that’s not her only problem. Her parents dreamed of a better life, yet they can’t afford to keep their beloved bakery running. Her mother sees Ari’s struggle with dysgraphia as laziness, and as the only Jewish kid in sixth grade, she faces antisemitism that goes unrecognized by her teachers. Her strained relationship with her parents and their beliefs rings heartbreakingly true alongside her struggle to find her own voice through poetry. As she and her best friend set out in secret to find Leah and repair her broken family, Ari must decide what she believes is right in an increasingly tumultuous world. Hiranandani captures with great nuance the details of Ari’s life. Sacrifices in the service of assimilation, the lies we tell the people we love most, and how we go about forgiving them are given specificity in Ari’s matter-of-fact and observant second-person present point of view.

A powerful blend of important themes and everyday triumphs and sorrows. (author's note) (Fiction. 8-12)

-Kirkus Review

Recommended Ages: Gr. 4-8

Plot Summary: Ari doesn't understand a lot of things her parents do. They've disowned her older sister after she left to elope with a man who isn't Jewish and who is from India. They think she just needs to work harder to improve her writing even though her new teacher thinks she should try typing on a typewriter because she has a learning disability. Ari needs a way to sort through everything she is feeling but doesn't feel like she can share with Jane. Will Ari find a way to talk to her sister again, even though her parents are hiding the letters that arrive? Will her parents ever open up about everything happening?

Setting: Gertie's is outside NYC

Characters:
Ari Goldberg - 11 yo, AKA Ariel
Leah Goldberg - 18 yo,
Raj - worked at a record store, going to NYU for business school, moved from India
Gabby - works at the bakery, used to babysit Ari
Jane - Ari's friend, not a deep friendship at first, lives in the same apartment building
Peggy - Jane's mom, more of a free spirit, doesn't fit into the typical family structure of the 60s
Mommy - not sure she's living out her dream, gets a lot of migraines, thinks Ari just needs to work hard to overcome her writing struggles
Daddy - was his dream to open a bakery, works very hard
Miss Field - Ari's teacher, first teacher who actually has a way to help Ari

Recurring Themes: poetry, learning disability, dysgraphia, racism, Judaism, mixed-marriage, Vietnam War, family-owned business, mental breakdown

Controversial Issues: Leah gets pregnant shortly after eloping

Personal Thoughts: I can't believe how many themes and issues the author was able to successfully incorporate into this book. The only thing I didn't like was the second person. It took about 60 pages to be able to ignore it without it bothering me or having to reread something. It seemed like an unnecessary gimmick. I appreciate that the author included her personal connections to the story as it explained it is #ownvoices since her mixed-race parents met in the sixties.

Genre: historical fiction, reads like realistic with just a few minor historical details

Pacing: fast
Characters: well developed
Frame:
Storyline:

Activity:

Readalike: Fish in a Tree because they both focus on a girl who has a learning disability. ( )

It took me a while to get used to the 2nd person narrative voice -- I admit I find it a bit intrusive and distracting, but after while I just got used to the rhythm of it, and I think it works. I LOVED Ari's poetry, I loved how her teacher found ways to help her with dysgraphia, I loved the ongoing conversation about interracial marriage and how strongly the setting (just after the Loving v. Virginia decision) supported Leah and Raj's story.

It's kind of fascinating to imagine being young in a time when Hippies were this new unknown and dangerous countercultural movement, when the Civil Rights marches were on the news, and the Beatles and Elvis were big -- it's not that long ago, but somehow this book brings it home to me in a really big way. Ariel is going through a lot, but she brings her family to a better place.

I was surprised that one of the solutions in the end is that the family moves into an apartment over the bakery -- why did they never consider that before? Maybe it was a size thing? Was that apartment always there? If so, wouldn't that have been the obvious solution all along, to live in an apartment you own rather than rent? Anyway, that's a nitpicky sort of confusion when really I enjoyed the book very much. It's a powerful story about finding your voice.

Advanced reader's copy provided by Edelweiss. ( )