Three interesting books to read this summer!

Hello everyone!

I have continued to read through this summer and thought why not share about a few interesting books that  I have finished reading this month? These books are written by two American Indian authors Mitali Das Perkins and Padma Venkatraman.

My first book is “You bring the distant near” by Mitali perkins. I recommend this book for young adult readers which means 10+ years . This book is about 3 generations of Women in the Das family and their life in America.

It starts off with Ranee Das,an Indian woman originally born and raised in Calcutta,india. She has 2 daughters named Sonia and Tara. The family moves to the United states from London. Each generation has its challenges.

Tara is the oldest daughter of Das’ family and wants to be an actress one day whereas Sonia loves writing. Their dad likes to travel and the family visits many countries including Singapore, Malaysia,  Ghana and India. Their father suddenly dies in a hit and run accident and Ranee(the mother) is left as a widow with two daughters . Sonia and Tara then follow their dreams,  and later get married and have daughters named Anna and Chantal.

Tara marries a man from India whereas Sonia marries an African American man.

Anna is shy and is a daughter of Bollywood actors. She is like a bengal tiger, always ready for what is next.Chantal is a fierce girl, an amazing Indian classical dancer and very confident . 

 “You bring the distant near”, means that although you are somewhere far from home, you should try to make it feel like home. Ranee makes sure that her daughters and granddaughters remember their Indian roots. This book symbolises cultural values, family traditions and love among sisters.  I enjoyed reading this book because I could identify with many characters and events in the book. I could identify Mrs Das as my grandmother as they both always wear saris and enjoy a good laugh. 

Sonia reminds me a bit about my cousin Simran. As they both have very curly hair and love reading and writing. Tara reminds me of my cousin Sanjana who is ambitious and always prepared for anything. And I find myself similar to Anna,who is quiet and complains about things but has a lot of creativity. Although she is short, she is bigger on the inside!

The author Mitali Perkins has written this book in a simple language that is easy to read and understand.

The Bridge home by Padma Venkatraman

The bridge home is about two girls Viji and Rukku (who is differently abled) run away to the city from their abusive father. As Viji and Rukku look for a place to stay, they run into a stray dog “Kutti”, which means dog in hindi. They then become friends with 2  homeless boys named Arul and Muthu. They pick trash from the heap of junk instead of begging on the streets. As fall  comes, Rukku gets very sick and gets dengue and pneumonia. Viji uses the money for medications and food. They sleep in a tent under the bridge instead of staying in the orphanage school a few blocks from there. 

Viji, Rukku, Arul,Muthu and Kutti have fun together.The girls find a family under the bridge away from their home. 

Will it be too late to help sick Rukku? Will the kids find a new home?   Read to find out.

This book is very heartbreaking and it is sad to learn that even  to this day there are many homeless children on the streets. After reading this book,I am very thankful for everything I have.This story is very close to my heart as it shows strong bonding between sisters.  I really like Viji’s character because she is responsible, caring and a loving sister. I think she is very courageous as she runs away from her abusive environment with her sister and she fulfills her responsibility for her sister. At the end, I was impressed by the character of Celina aunty who helps these kids. The journey of these girls was filled with challenges. This is a story of poverty, loss, and grief. I admit that I feel some resemblance with the character of Viji. 

This book is written in an appropriate manner that describes the difficult scenarios in simple words.

While picking trash, Arul and Muthu find many useful things that they sell for money. This reminds me of a quote by Dhar Mann.

“One person’s trash is another person’s treasure”

• Dhar mann

The author of this book was born in India and moved to the USA as a student. Personally I feel someone should make a movie out of this book.

Rickshaw Girl

This is another book by Mitali Perkins. Naima is  a talented Bangladeshi  girl. She paints the best ‘alpnas’ in town.

’Alpanas’ are traditional paintings made by Bengali women to decorate their houses. Alpanas is Naimas passion but she cannot make money from it. She wants to ride a rickshaw to support her family financially. But the job of riding a rickshaw was considered mens work. Her father  who is a rickshaw driver becomes sick and cannot work. What is Naima going to do next? No matter what or who you are, or what your gender is, you can do anything you want to do for your family . As Naima disguises herself as a boy, she then learns she does not need to worry and she can do what she wants.  This is a story of poverty, and changing gender roles in society. The alpana sketches and patterns in the book are amazing.

I hope you get these books because these are my favorite books  and hold a great place in my heart! I can assure you that these books will change your perspective about life and culture. There is a movie of Rickshaw Girl.

All these three books can be bought on amazon or borrow a copy of mine.