We recently received two ARCs about twelve-year-old girls whose mothers are Indian and fathers are Jewish, a viewpoint rarely seen in children’s novels. Mira Levenson is a British novelist (Mira in the Present Tense by Sita Brahmachari, Whitman, September 2013) “[With] long, dead-straight black hair and dark brown eyes that, according to my father, sometimes turn black with emotion, I’m neither tall nor small, neither slender nor ‘plumpy.’ My complexion is brown, yet not dark enough to conceal my blushes.” Her grandmother (father’s mother) is dying, and she has sought the help of the family to paint her coffin. Jidé Jackson, a Rwandan refugee, becomes a new friend (or more?) for her. The story is largely upbeat, but there are some deeply sad parts sprinkled throughout.
Paula J. Freedman’s My Basmati Bat Mitzvah (Amulet/Abrams, October 2013) is a lot shorter. Tara Feinstein is debating whether or not she should have a Bat Mitzvah. “Was I about to become more Jewish, or less Indian?” was one of her key concerns. After a girl informs her she’s “not even Jewish,” she gets into a pushing match (at Hebrew School, no less!) (not that it’s anyone’s business, but her mother converted, for goodness sake). The novel is about identity, but it’s also about tween friendships, crushes, instructors, family situations that make you roll your eyes, and so on.
Source: https://www.hbook.com/story/mira-and-tara-jewish-indian-tweens
