Review by New York Times Review
IF A HERO who saves the world from a fire also happens to be the one who started the fire... is that person still a hero? That's the question posed by three new books for young readers, each featuring a heroine equal parts delinquent and valiant. In Lissa Evans's whirligig romp WED WABBIT (David Fickling/Scholastic, 256 pp., $16.99; ages 8 to 12), 10-year-old Fidge is so pent-up with suppressed emotions, her mother can't even give her a hug. ("It's like cuddling a cardboard box. You're all corners.") Fidge has good reason for her stiffness: Her father died only two years earlier; her mother is distractible and leaves her to manage her 4-year-old sister, Minnie; and Minnie herself is a deliberately lisping brat who badgers Fidge to read her favorite book, "The Land of the Wimbley Woos," over and over to her and her stuffed "wed wabbit." That maroon hunk of velvet is Fidge's nemesis, bought by Minnie the week after their father's death and blessed with a "horribly smug expression, like a clever child who knows he's the teacher's favorite." Wed Wabbit is Fidge's projection of Minnie: demanding, insatiable and callously oblivious to her father's absence. Every time she looks at Wabbit, we feel Fidge's strings grow tighter ... tighter ... Then Minnie drops her bunny while on a shopping trip. Without thinking, Fidge boots it into a car-filled street. Minnie runs after it. The strings have popped. As Minnie recovers in the hospital, her mother at her side, Fidge is banished to her cousin's house, where her guilt, shame and resentment all roil into a cosmic thunderstorm that can only mean one thing: Fidge is about to go down the rabbit hole. The rabbit, in this case, is quite literal: Fidge wakes up inside "The Land of the Wimbley Woos," lorded over by Wed Wabbit, now a 20-foot-tall tyrant king who speaks in a lispy, ear-shredding squeak and has oppressed the colorful garbagecan-shaped Wimbleys, whom Fidge must free in order to get home. As in "Alice in Wonderland" or "The Phantom Tollbooth," Fidge is dragged through a gantlet of absurdity, forcing her to engage with a fictional world she disdained. But as Fidge finds allies - her phobic cousin, Graham, who has his own atonement to make; more of Minnie's toys, which have come to life, including a bedazzled cellphone and a histrionic elephant; and the Wimbleys themselves, who have more dimension than Fidge anticipated - we sense Evans's deliberate paradox. Fidge's quest isn't the archetypal hero's journey. This is a crisis of her own making. But in the process of saving a world she once thought had no value, she begins to climb out of the box she's created for both herself and others. "What if I die?" one of Fidge's compatriots asks. "What if you live?" another answers. Living is the real hero's journey, Evans suggests, where in order to fix things, you might have to break them apart first. Like Fidge, the title heroine of Roshani Chokshi's ARU SHAH AND THE END OF TIME (Rick Riordan Presents/Disney-Hyperion, 355 pp., $16.99; ages 8 to 12) is both creator and destroyer. In stories like the Harry Potter books or "The Lord of the Rings," the beginning of the quest is a passive selection: Harry and Bilbo are chosen, plucked from their ordinary lives because it's "time." There's something refreshing, then, about watching Aru Shah barrel into her quest like a blindfolded bull, stopping the world on its axis because there are lessons she needs to learn. The first is to stop lying. A protagonist who stretches the truth is a bold choice: No one likes a liar, particularly one who lies so often. Aru lies to her classmates about where she lives (the annex of the Museum of Ancient Indian Arts and Culture, not a chic condo downtown), who her mother is (a museum worker, not a secret agent in France), where she buys her clothes (Target and Walmart, not "Tar-jay" and "Vahlmart," her imaginary European tailors of haute couture). But Aru has good reason for lying: She's desperately trying to fit in at her rich Atlanta day school, where her classmates mock her Indian clothes as a Halloween costume. Still, one lie is so outlandish - that she possesses a "cursed lamp" that can end the world - it brings her classmates to the museum, daring her to prove it. Unfortunately for Aru, it's her only lie that happens to be true. Despite her mother's warnings about lighting the Lamp of Bharata in the Hall of Gods, Aru makes a bargain with herself: "Just a quick light," she thinks, and she'll never lie again. Like Fidge kicking the rabbit, lighting the lamp is Aru's mortal error, but this time the punishment involves real consequences in our realm: the rise of the Sleeper, who will bring about an end to time unless Aru can stop him. Chokshi seems in her own race against time, given how much she sets to accomplish in this, the first of a planned quartet. "Aru Shah" is also the first title of the new imprint Rick Riordan Presents, spearheaded by the author of the hugely popular Percy Jackson series. After Riordan made Greek and Norse mythology accessible to young readers, his new venture broadens its horizons to underrepresented folklore. Starting with Hindu mythology - filled with ambiguities, abstractions and contradictions - is as nervy a move as Aru lighting the lamp. But just as her heroine learns to wield a bow and arrow, Chokshi has her own weapons : a skill for crackling prose ("A sharp sound cut the air, as if someone had dropped a handful of sewing needles"), and a main character who, despite her lies, is both endearingly funny and self-aware ("Maybe that's why superheroes wore capes. ... They weren't actually capes at all, but safety blankets. ... Because honestly? Saving the world was scary"). Most of all, Chokshi is wise enough to let Aru experience Hinduism, not explain it. A Karma and Sins office leads to a pool of reincarnation; Lord Hanuman pops in like Jiminy Cricket to send Aru on her way; a tourism poster for Lanka (the demon kingdom in "The Ramayana") winkingly promises "moments of gore"; allusions to Indian dance, dress, deities and traditions sit alongside references to Voldemort and Spiderman. Readers learn Sanskrit numbers, and why karma might best be explained by Justin Timberlake. With Aru at the helm, this roller coaster through Hindu culture never feels forced or pedantic, but instead like a new kind of myth - where a hero takes a hammer to the world to shine a light through its cracks. In Diane Magras's the MAD WOLF'S DAUGHTER (Penguin, 277 pp., $16.99; ages 8 to 12), 12-year-old Drest, who lives in medieval Scotland, shouldn't be on her quest either. When her father and brothers are captured by knights, her father's parting orders are clear: Save yourself and hide. But Drest is a ferocious heroine, and after finding a wounded knight left behind by the enemy, she conjures a plan to travel to Faintree Castle and exchange the knight for her family before they're hanged. Unlike Fidge or Aru, Drest comes with little self-doubt. She knows her enemy, she knows good from evil, and she knows what she's fighting for. In fact, she knows her family so well she imagines her brothers' and father's voices in her head ("Drest, lass, you must do something"). At first, it makes the novel slightly staid, since Drest is so capable: What could possibly get in her way? Even Drest's disobedience feels like the prelude to her proving that fathers shouldn't underestimate their daughters. A tale well trod. But see Magras's magic trick: Drest's self-belief isn't her strength but her weakness. Her father pre-empted this quest for a reason. He knew she was blind to the truth about her family, her enemy and the reason for their capture. Together, Drest and the reader are pulled into trap after trap, until it's clear we're in the hands of a master storyteller. "The Mad Wolf's Daughter" feels like an instant classic. Its warning resonates: There will always be those who start the fires and the heroes who put them out. But to find the truth, sometimes a hero has to set a fire herself.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [April 8, 2018]
Review by Booklist Review
Aru Shah is a lover of tales, and was hoping to survive seventh grade through spinning slightly altered tales about her life to classmates. When a group of friends confronts her at the Museum of Ancient Art and Indian Cultures about her lies, Aru Shah would do anything to get them to believe her. Even if that means taking their dare to light a lamp that wouldn't you know it? might bring about the end of the world. Readers will be delighted by this adventurous dive into Hindu mythology and the chance to cheer along a heroic young protagonist. Chokshi makes it easy to connect with Aru by showing her learn from her mistakes (with the help of a sarcastic sorcerer pigeon), and readers will experience wonder as they are met with such surprises as a forest of giant fireflies. This series starter also doesn't skimp on important lessons about friendship, family, and love. Chokshi is a talented writer who breathes fresh air into her mythological world.--Bratt, Jessica Anne Copyright 2018 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
This series kickoff, which is also the first book from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, expertly channels the humor and action that have made Riordan's own work so successful. Twelve-year-old Aru Shah lives with her mother in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta. Aru's tendency to bend the truth gets her into trouble when three of her classmates dare her to light a supposedly cursed lamp called a diya, which awakens the demonic Sleeper. With the help of her guardian, a pigeon named Subala, Aru learns that she is the reincarnation of one of five Pandava brothers, each the child of a different god. Aru meets one of her "soul-related" siblings, smart but timid Mini, and they head off to stop the Sleeper from reaching Shiva, Lord of Destruction. With her quick wit and big personality, Aru commands the spotlight ("I'm an A student," she boasts to a doubtful Subala. "In the sense that she was a student whose name started with an A"), and Chokshi (The Star-Touched Queen) weaves an engrossing adventure that will leave readers anticipating the next installment. Ages 8-12. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra & Associates. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 3-6-Seventh grader Aru should never have lit the ancient lamp. When she put the lighter to the wick, the world froze and she released the awful Sleeper. Aru is suddenly launched into the world of the gods and surrounded by mythical characters come to life. Aru discovers she is a Pandava, born with the soul of one of the five brothers featured in the Mahabharata. She also has a soul sister, Mini, to assist her in this quest-highly unusual for a Pandava. Aru and Mini must enter the Kingdom of Death to find out the secret that will destroy the Sleeper. Rick Riordan writes the introduction to this book that has a similar tone and pacing to his popular "Percy Jackson" series, but Chokshi brings her own sensibility and style. Using Hindu mythology as the foundation, Chokshi has created an exciting adventure around a coming-of-age tale. A glossary provides readers with a basic introduction to the various traditional stories that Chokshi drew from. Just as "Percy Jackson" led tweens to a deeper exploration and appreciation of classic Greek mythology, Chokshi's tale will likely inspire a similar demand for traditional Indian mythology. VERDICT An enthralling start to a series that Riordan fans and anyone in the mood for a high-octane adventure will love.-Clare A. Dombrowski, Amesbury Public Library, MA © Copyright 2018. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Twelve-year-old Aru knew she shouldn't light the Lamp of Bharata just to show off to her schoolmates, but she never expected to rouse a demon bent on awakening the God of Destruction. Now she must save her museum-curator mother and, well, everyone else. Witty humor and quick pacing carry readers through the Kingdom of Death in this series-starting fantasy rooted in Hindu mythology. Glos. (c) Copyright 2019. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Aru Shah of Atlanta, Georgia, is a seventh-grader and social misfit. While her classmates jet set around the world, Aru spends her holidays at home with her curator mother in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture. But one day, three of Aru's classmates show up at her doorstep and dare her to light the cursed Lamp of Bharata. When Aru lights the lamp, she releases the Sleeper from his slumber and mustwith the help of her newly found soul sister, Mini, and their pigeon sidekick, Subala, or "Boo"go on a quest to stop the Sleeper from awakening the Lord of Destruction, who will, in turn, end the world. Aru and Mini's adventures range from discovering that they are the reincarnations of the Pandava brothers (demigods and the protagonists of the Hindu epic poem the Mahabharata) to slaying demons and shopping at the Night Bazaar (effectively disguised as Costco). In her middle-grade debut, Chokshi (TheStar-Touched Queen, 2016, etc.) spins a fantastical narrative that seamlessly intertwines Hindu cosmology and folklore, feminism, and witty dialogue for an uproarious novel for young readers. For readers of Indian origin, especially, the novel presents a culture that is not often seenor accurately representedin mainstream children's and young adult literature.Chokshi comes into her own in this novel, reminding readers of the power of language and of stories. (Fantasy. 8-12) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
