Mitali Perkins

María, Juan, and their mother are going an important trip to the San Diego - Tijuana border. With special gifts (a handmade scarf and a poster board) in hand, they are eager to see abuela for the first time in 5 years. But because of the border and immigration control disputes between the US and Mexico, they will have to meet with abuela through a fence. I appreciated that this book is a realistic depiction of how many families spend special holidays, whether it is Las Posadas like in this show more book, or any other holiday. Whether it is through the fence at the U.S.-Mexico border, or through the glass or across a table at a prison. There is so much injustice evident in the way our borders and prisons operate when seen through the eyes of children, as this book allows us to do. And beyond being a realistic depiction, it is also an exciting tale of ingenuity and finding the silver lining in a challenge. The illustrations are lovely. show less

First sentence: Our front porch is a mess. Stepping around a discarded skateboard and a rusty tricycle, I avoid a couple of splintery wooden chairs and make my way down the steps. As I cross the street to the old Johnson place, I move slowly, casually, in case eyes are tracking me. The riskiest part of this escape is ducking behind the overgrown oleander bushes. But I'm careful as always. There. Now I'm hidden.

Premise/plot: Hope in the Valley is set in the early 1980s, I believe, in show more California. Pandita Paul, the protagonist, is going to be an eighth grader in the fall. And she doesn't like change--not this change nor any other, not really. Perhaps because she's already experienced one of the biggest changes she could face--the death of her mother. (And it happened on vacation, when they were visiting her grandparents in India). She is holding onto every single memory, every single moment. She has a BIG secret that her and her mother held. The abandoned mansion across the street is their favorite "quiet" place. In particular the porch swing on the porch. There's a cushion where they hid letters, notes, pictures. This is her "safe place" mentally and emotionally. But soon after her birthday (or perhaps on her birthday), she learns that it is soon to be demolished and sold. She's crushed, angered, scared. Can she find a way to save the past?

Of course, that's only ONE of a handful of story threads in the novel...

My thoughts: I absolutely ADORE this one so much. I loved the main character. I loved getting to know her older sisters. I loved meeting her friends--not all of them her own age. I loved the characters, the relationships, the stories. I loved the inclusion of drama camp and SOUND OF MUSIC. It is just a fantastic coming of age story. show less

National Book Award finalist Perkins’ picture book depicts a tale of immigration and adaptation.

In the opening spreads, Shanti says “goodbye” to her West Bengal village, with its “warm monsoon rains” and its “green palm trees,” and gives a dubious “hello” to a “town with cold rain / And orange and yellow leaves.” Here, in the United States, Shanti lives a bifurcated life: Inside feels familiar, with Ma cooking luchi; outside feels strange, with “napkins on laps” and show more “no elbows on tables.” Shanti occupies a liminal space, the “in-between” of the title, ricocheting from kathak dance to ballet, from Bollywood to Hollywood, from harmonium to piano. “Learning the town. / Remembering the village. / Again and again. / In Between.” When a White kid explains T-ball to Shanti and then demands, “Where are you from, Mars?” Shanti “feels tired” at this obviously racist attack. A couple of page turns and some months (judging by the illustrations) later, however, suddenly Shanti realizes she is “good at making anywhere feel like home. / Especially here. / In the space between cultures.” Kolkata-born, Australia-based Naidu’s illustrations are light and full of motion, reinforcing both the book’s tone and its content. Shanti’s expressions, including wonder, frustration, and exhaustion, are particularly emotive. In an author’s note, Perkins explains that such code-switching was exhausting to her as a new immigrant but acknowledges it as a gift as an adult. (This book was reviewed digitally with 8.5-by-22-inch double-page spreads viewed at 9% of actual size.)

The book will appeal particularly to children and families navigating this space between cultures. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)

-Kirkus Review show less

The story of three generations of Bengali women (from 1965-2006), starting in the middle with sisters Tara (Star or Starry) and Sonia (Sunny or Mishti), as they move from Ghana to London to New York to New Jersey. Their daughters then take over the narrative, and then it loops back to their mother, Ranee, still moving forward in time. Tara and Sonia have the first two thirds of the book, with their daughters Anna (Anu) and Chantal (Shanti) taking over the last third, and Ranee concluding. show more It's effective, though as a reader I felt most closely connected to and interested in Tara and Sonia, because I spent more time with them. All of the characters are sympathetic, though, as they struggle with the ordinary coming-of-age challenges as well as cross-cultural and racial ones; Tara marries another Bengali man, while Sonia marries an African-American man. The topic of skin color hierarchy comes up frequently, starting when the Das family moves to Flushing and Ranee thinks it's a bad neighborhood because the residents are mostly Black. Chantal's identity is both Bengali and Black, and Anna identifies more as Bengali than American, but both girls work to navigate these identities. You Bring the Distant Near is a wonderful, satisfying story of familial and romantic love.

Quotes

Where am I from? Can the answer be stories and words, some of theirs, some of mine? (Sonia, 35)

"You read her diary! That's wrong, Ma!"
"I have to find out what's going on in her head, don't I? It's my duty to keep her safe."
"You'll make her dangerous instead." (Starry and Ranee, 75)

Am I ever going to push back when people try to sideline me? (Chantal, 201)

"Not everybody likes change."
"If you don't say yes to change, Anu, life starts to leave you behind." (Anna and Ranee, 230) show less