Mayasri Mukherjee is the only “brown” kid in her Manitoba school. She’s skinny, wears braces, has to wear her hair in childish ponytails, and has two pimples. Her parents insist that she take ballet and piano lessons, and forbid any sleepovers on school nights. Although born in India, she was an infant when her parents immigrated to Canada, and she doesn’t even speak Bengali. She hates being different: I am Nowhere Girl in my Nowhere Land, between Canada and India. When her cousin Pinky arrives from India for a visit, Maya is first awed by her confidence and poise, and then jealous of the attention paid to Pinky for her exotic differences. Then, just when Jamie Klassen has started to pay attention to her, she learns that her parents are contemplating a move to California. Maya borrows Pinky’s statue of Ganesh, a family heirloom, to pray that her troubles will be over.

Be careful what you wish for.

I read children’s and YA books because I have nieces and a nephew for whom I buy books. I had high hopes for this children’s book (ages 10 ). I expected some valuable lessons on being true to yourself, the meaning of true friendship, the importance of family, and the stumbles we all suffer on our road from childhood to adolescence and adulthood. Banerjee does include such lessons, but they are delivered in a rather heavy-handed way. Midway through the book, the very realistic story takes on a fantasy element that seemed forced. A skilled writer can incorporate magical realism or fantasy in such a way that it is totally believable and furthers the story. Not the case in this book. The second half of the book just stretches credulity too far and left me completely dissatisfied. I can’t imagine that any of the children I know would buy into it either.

I feel that people reading this review might want more detail on what I felt was wrong with the book …

Maya’s statue comes alive and grants her wishes … she is instantly taller, more developed, without braces or pimples, has a modern feathered haircut, a totally new wardrobe, parents who give in to her every desire, and a boyfriend who is completely devoted to her (in fact, he quickly becomes a stalker). By the time she realizes that she no longer wants all obstacles removed from her path, Pinky has returned home with the statue. Maya goes to India to track down Pinky and the statue so she can have Ganesh reverse the spell. Pinky has traded the family heirloom (a solid-gold statue with diamonds for eyes) to a shopkeeper for a beautiful silk sari. Maya actually steals the statue and runs into the woods where she spends the night praying to it and crying. When she returns to her family no one blames her for stealing, or staying out all night, and she and her father begin the journey back to Canada. The statue does come alive again briefly, but before she knows whether her world will return to the way it was she spontaneously gives the valuable statue to a boy on the train who needs a heart operation. When she gets back to Manitoba and is in the car with her parents she simply tells them that what she wants is for them to be back to normal. And VOILA … they are her usual parents again, and she is skinny, with braces, and her hair in ponytails. No, this isn’t just a dream sequence … and that’s the problem with the book. I simply couldn’t suspend disbelief.
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Suspenseful, magical, enjoyable story. My daughter read it as well and flew through this book! Recommended! ( )

Suspenseful, magical, enjoyable story. My daughter read it as well and flew through this book! Recommended! ( )

Suspenseful, magical, enjoyable story. My daughter read it as well and flew through this book! Recommended! ( )

I was really enjoying this book until the author used what I thought was an unnecessary literary device. [SPOILER] When the "wish" she makes to Vishnu didn't turn out to be a dream, well, it irritated me. Up to that point I was starting to really like the charactor Maya. This book made a bunch of teen fiction lists and it's still worth a read even if it annoyed me personally.