Author: Gloria Whelan
Genre: Young Adult Fiction
Publication: Simon & Schuster, 2011
My Star Rating 4 stars out of 5 - I Like It
Summary Statement: Fast Paced Young Adult Story Tackles a Difficult Topic
National Book Award winner Gloria Whelan, who has long been known to teachers, homeschoolers, and librarians for her engaging fiction delivers a short, action packed, engaging story. The publisher is marketing this book featuring a 15 year old girl as young adult genre, but I feel that it reads like a juvenile literature story albeit tackling the topic of 1918 India's caste system, the Untouchables, and intentional acts of physically abusing babies in order to use them as deformed street beggars which (some would say) are tough topics for kids aged 9-12 to handle.
The main character is an English girl, the daughter of a high ranking British military official. Rosalind is unconventional having been sheltered by her mother, kept in India for home education, rather than being sent alone to England to attend a boarding school. Rosalind breaks conventional social rules by mixing and befriending with the native Indian people who her family employs. She rejects Indian social norms and sees a different future for the lower caste members including the Untouchables. Her journey leads her to learn about Ghandi and to support social change that is in direct violation of her own father's military career actions.
I rated the book 4 stars = I Like It because I feel it could have been a longer story and it could have gone deeper in character development and story. On the one hand I enjoyed the way Whelan's storytelling quickly drew me in, starting with a great first line "How can kindness get you into so much trouble?" then drawing us in with quick action. There is never a dull moment. The book reads like the way a movie feels to watch. I didn't want to put it down and read through the book within a 48 hour period as I was so curious to see what happened next. While reading the book I loved it but a few days later in thinking about it, I was starting to feel a little let down.
Why am I not rating this 5 stars? There were a couple of pivotal points that if I think about them, are a bit unbelievable. If I'm trying to love the story I could tell myself look past that and just tell myself to enjoy the story and to not overthink it, but, I wished Whelan dove deeper and included more detail. That would have made me really feel everything more and to honestly believe it.
I was left wanting to understand a bit more of how Rosalind could have been so naive before these new events happened (she acts and thinks a lot younger than a 15 year old, especially one from 1918 when marrying age was younger). (I feel that a five star book should never leave us feeling we needed more.) I wanted to hear more of what happened with Ghandi to draw her emotionally into the plight of the Indian people. The bazaar scenes could have been more detailed and modern American teens who would read this young adult novel should have heard more about the situation wtih the begging children and the abuse and selling of babies. Even the budding romantic relationship needed more to let us see how she had her first physical attraction to a young man rather than having it appear as a platonic friendship then jumping to a peck kiss.
This is a book for young adults (or mature younger readers) that addresses a rare topic that is important and not often enough taught about in school. Just finding nonfiction books for children and teens about the history of India is difficult, which is a shame. I give Whelan kudos for tackling this tough topic but wish it was longer, more detailed, and a more engaging book story rather than feeling like a fast paced drama action movie. The book is shorter and simpler than I think today's teens can handle and a more in depth tale could have done a better job at tackling these tough but important subjects. Used in tangent with nonfiction readings of Indian history a student could learn more but as the main informer of these topics to uninformed American teens, this book is not enough in and of itself.
Disclosure: I received a review copy of this book from Amazon.com's Vine program. I was under no obligation to review it favorably nor was I paid to read or review it. My blogging this was not part of the Vine committment. For my blog's full disclosure statement see the link near the top of my blog's sidebar.
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