A Storm Unleashed by Carol Matas

Twelve-year-old Marianne (Mia) Kaufmann lives in Berlin with her father, Dr. Adam Kaufman who is a Jewish veterinarian who owns his own clinic.  Mia's mother Johanna died from an infection she contracted shortly after Mia was born. Mia's parents met when her father was attending to the animals on her mother's family's farm. This farm is where Mia's mother's parents -- that is Mia's Oma and Opa still live. Ever since her mother's death, Mia's Auntie Lil, who is her mother's sister, has been coming into the city from Monday to Friday to keep house and make lunch and dinners. She returns to the family farm on the weekends to help Opa with the chores.

The novel opens on May 3, 1935.  Mia is sitting on a park bench in the afternoon observing birds. Beside her is her beloved Max, her German shepherd. Mia has just noted a common redstart when a girl in the unifrom of the League of German Girls approaches her and demands that she give Max to her. Quickly Mia puts her notebook into her backpack and bolts down the street with the girl in pursuit. After slipping through the lobby of a nearby apartment building, Mia makes for the train station and boards the train that will take her to Oma and Opa's farm. She needs to get away from Berlin as fast as possible to save Max. Mia remembers that her father gave her Max because of what happened two years earlier in 1933.

At that time, Hitler had been appointed Chancellor only three months ago, and his Nazi party is now in power in Germany. Mia had not attended school that day, April 1st because of a headache and was allowed to accompany her father to his veterinarian clinic. But as they were going downstairs they met her friend, Sam Landenberg whose parents own a sweet shop. Mia decided to go with Sam to his family's sweet shop and while there they hear the breaking of glass coming from Herr Schwatz's hardware store next door. With Herr Landenberg leading the way, Mia and Sam found Herr Schwartz on the ground, bleeding after having been attacked by men in brown uniforms. The men paint Jewish stars on the sweets shop and stand outside with signs urging customers not to buy from Jewish shops. Sam was angry at Mia whom he accuses of not paying attention to what has been happening in Germany. 

As Mia's friend Sam explained, one of the first things Hitler did upon gaining power was to start a trade war with Germany's neighbours, Denmark and Sweden, placing taxes on good coming from those countries. This had affected the Germany economy but Hitler and the Nazis blamed the Jewish population for the poor economy.  While the other customers in the shop believe this will pass, Sam doesn't think so. Mia tries to go back to her books and her birds but two weeks later, something else happened.

It was her father's birthday. Mia, her Auntie Lil and her friends, Frieda Liebermann and Sam bake a lemon cake for her father but instead of her friends being allowed to stay, Auntie Lil asks them to leave. On that day her father arrives home with a German shepherd puppy whom Mia names Max. Mia began to train Max immediately and soon she and Max were inseperable.

Mia and Max arrive at Oma and Opa's farm which was built in 1790. The farm consists of a large, two-storey farmhouse, "...a large barn, a pig shed, a chicken coop surrounded by fencing to keep out the foxes and  a stable for the horses. There is also a granary and a hay shed." Mia tells Oma and Opa what happened and they immediately phone her home to let Auntie Lil know what has happened. Mia questions Oma as to whether she should have stood up to the Nazi girl, but Oma tells her that the time was during the election but the people chose differently. Opa sends Mia out to tend to the chickens and afterwards she takes Bertha out for a ride and then brushes the horse down. When Mia returns to the farmhouse, her father and Auntie Lil have arrived. Although Mia feels frightened to return to their home in Berlin, her father suggests that she simply avoid the park where she encountered the Nazi girl.

Mia returns to her public school. Things are very different with the Nazis in power: they have passed the Law Against Overcrowding which has resulted in many Jewish students leaving the public schools to attend Jewish only schools. Mia once had the highest marks in the class, was asked to help out by the teachers and had a wide circle of friends, but that isn't the case anymore. Her teacher, Frau Koch is a fanatic Nazi and begins every class by having Mia read aloud. This is followed by her humiliating Mia in front of her classmates while teaching the students Nazi propaganda and lies. She tells the class that although Mia is the classic Aryan beauty with her blond hair, blue eyes and round head, she has Jewish filth polluting her blood. Mia begs Rachel, the only other Jewish student in her class not to tell her father because she doesn't want her father to know either.

After school that day, Sam reveals that his family is fleeing to France and that Herr Schwarz and his family are also leaving as the Nazis have taken over their store. On Saturday with Sam now gone, Mia waits for her father for lunch. However when he doesn't show, Mia decides to visit his clinic. At the clinic, Mia is told by a strange man named Herr Fischer that her father is at the dog-training school and will be there all afternoon. Frau Weber, his receptionist, takes Mia to the school in her uncle's luxury car.

At the dog-training school which trains police dogs, Mia is shocked to see her father give the Nazi salute and call one of the men a name. He has her demonstrate teaching a skill in front of an SS officer. When they are at home later, Mia's father tells her that now she is expected to go to the dog-training school every Saturday to help train the dogs. While Mia is excited at this prospect, she is also upset at her father for not telling her about the school. He admits he doesn't know why the training center is so secret but he does reveal that the only reason he has been allowed to keep his clinic and train the dogs is because of his war service.

The next day Mia attends a training session and she watches as the men train the dogs to "bring down". Back at home, Mian and her father further discuss training dogs but also if people can be trained to act and think a certain way.

At school on Monday morning, Frau Koch continues indoctrinating the students about race using Mia as an example and telling a story which she insists proves that some people are "vermin". When Mia attempts to counter her propaganda, she is made to sit in the hallway the rest of the day. This upsets Mia so much that when she is climbing trees with Frieda she wants to let go and deliberately hurt herself. This shocks Frieda who comforts Mia and encourages her not to think this way. The two girls quickly leave the park with Max and go to Frieda's home to avoid the Nazi girl. There they meet Frieda's mother, Dr. Lieberman who was a gynecologist at the Berlin hospital but who now is only allowed to work privately as a midwife. Frieda's father, once a professor of literature now teaches at one of the Jewish schools. Frieda helps Mia get home safely with Max without encountering the Nazi girl.

The night Mia's father talks to her about what happened that day when she was with Frieda. It is at this point that Mia finally tells her father what is happening at the school. This leads to a family meeting at Opa and Oma's farm and Mia's father, grandparents and her Auntie Lil decide that they will tell the school that Mia has suddenly fallen ill with scarlet fever. Since it is almost the end of the school year, she will be recovering at the family farm. It is decided that after the summer, Mia will begin attending Frieda's Jewish school. Despite the sign saying Jews are not welcome in the farming community, Mia's father will come to visit the farm every Sunday. While on the farm, Mia begins training Max to "bring down". It is a skill that will save her and Frieda a few weeks later.

Mia returns to Berlin in August to start at the Jewish school. However, it quickly becomes apparent that the situation for Jews in Berlin is escalating. Mia's family barely escapes being attacked after Hitler's Storm Troopers target a restaurant and Frieda's father is viciously assaulted. It is Frieda and Mia who come up with a brilliant plan that will save both their families and offer them a chance at a new life. But it will require both sacrifice and separation.

Discussion

A Storm Unleashed is a another well-crafted historical fiction novel written by Canadian author Carol Matas. This thoughtful novel explores the events in prewar Germany as it gradually comes under complete control by the Nazis and their dictator Adolf Hitler. 

Carol Matas explains in her Author's Note how she came to write about Hitler's dog army. "...it was an accidental discovery -- while researching another book about the Holocaust I came across an article on Hitler's army of 200,000 dogs. The largest dog-training school was at Grunheide, just outside of Berlin. They trained 2000 dogs at a time. The school pretended to be a training facility for police dogs so that they would not overtly break the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, which had imposed a limit of 100,000 dogs on Germany for military purposes. K-9 army units were trained at Grunheide and scattered throughout police units so as not to arouse suspicion." As Matas points out in her note, these dogs are present in almost all books and movies about the Holocaust. In those movies, the Nazi dogs are always shown as very vicious and invoking deep fear. Matas writes that "...without these dogs, the roundups of Jewish people, the train evacuations, even keeping order in the concentrations camps, would not have been possible..." 

The novel is set in prewar Berlin, in the mid 1930's as Hitler begins to establish his grip on Germany. 1935 was a critical year for Hitler as this was the year Hitler began to rearm Germany. He established the Luftwaffe and reintroduced conscription to bring the German army up to half a million men - both breaking the Treaty of Versailles.  Although she states in her Author's Note that she leaves the discussion of how Hitler was able to come to power in Germany, Matas does use several characters to discuss how Hitler has come to power and why people believe what he is telling them. 

At the beginning of the novel, Mia is focused on her books, training Max and her bird watching. Her friend Sam tells Mia, who he considers as not having kept up on the situation in Germany, that Hitler began targeting allies with tariffs on their goods, and when the economy began to slow, he began blaming the Jewish population. Mia believes that because she hasn't been paying attention, she didn't know what to do when she was confronted by the Nazi girl who wanted to take her dog. This event changes Mia, because it forces her to begin thinking about what is happening in Germany.

Mia questions why people elected Hitler and what they were thinking. Her Oma explains, "They weren't really thinking at all...They were feeling something. They were feeling mad and wanted someone to fix everything."  At school, her fanatical teacher Frau Koch teaches the lie that "the Treaty of Versailles was used against Germany, and that Germany was not responsible for the war." which Mia discovers through her own research is simply not true.

As Hitler's control over Germany deepens and his agenda against the Jewish people becomes more organized, Mia believes they should stay and fight but Sam explains why many Jewish people are leaving. "There is no court to turn to because all the judges who stood for the law rather than for Hitler are gone -- fired or resigned or working for the Nazis now. There's no lawyer to hire because all the lawyers who believed in the real laws, not Hitler's laws, are gone -- fired or resigned or working for the Nazis. There's no newspaper that will uncover this story and tell it to its readers because the only papers that are allowed to publish are those that print Nazi propaganda.  So we stay and do what?"

As Mia considers the training happening at the school, she begins to ask questions about whether dogs can be trained to be bad dogs and this leads her to question if people can be trained to bad. Her father tells her that it might be possible to train someone to treat people badly but that a way to tell if something is wrong is that if you don't want to be treated a certain way do not do that to others. This leads Mia to consider the Nazi girl who wants to steal her dog, Max. "Did she choose to believe in the Nazis and their hatred of Jews? Did she choose to be a bully and take what she wanted? Or has she been trained? By her parents? By her classmates? By the newspapers and all the horrible things they print? By teachers like Frau Koch, who every day drums into our heads how noble Nazis are and how vicious Jews are?" Mia considers that if people are similar to dogs and can be trained to believe something. She notes that every day at school they "...are forced to repeat how great Hitler is, how great the Nazis are -- and how terrible the Jews are. When do people stop repeating this and start believing it?"

Once Mia is out of the public school and being taught at her grandparents by her Auntie Lil she comes to realize just  how much propaganda they are being fed at school instead of what really happened in history. "It is an odd feeling knowing a large portion of the country believes things that are simply not true. I can't help but wonder if I also believe things that aren't true. If so, how would I know?" Auntie Lil explains that "People who are curious and look at all sides of an issue are less likely to turn into lemmings who would follow anyone and do anything. People like the Nazis are swept up in a fever, a fervour, a blind obedience."  Mia sees just how far this fervour goes when she and her family and friends are attacked at a restaurant.

The novel also considers just how far one should go in terms of cooperation with evil, to simply protect oneself and those dear to them. Mia learns that two of her Jewish classmates are terrified of Max because it was a German shepherd dog who helped in the arrest of their father who was eventually murdered. This leads her to confront her father and he reveals that he has learned that Hitler is rebuilding Germany's military, likely in preparation for war. 

Matas includes two interesting scenes in her novel. The first is a series of dreams that Mia has involving her dead mother who advises her to trust her father. These two dreams are both puzzling but comforting to Mia. The other interesting scene is her discussion with a rabbi regarding race and how the Nazis have twisted their view of the human race to exclude certain people like the Jews so they can be murdered.

A Storm Unleashed, the title of which is a reference to Hitler training and unleashing trained and vicious army dogs against the German Jews, is well-written and will appeal to young readers who enjoy animal stories and historical fiction. 

When reading this novel it's hard not to think about the parallels between what happened in post-World War I Germany and what is currently happening south of the border in the United States. It's interesting to see how there is an economy to the breakdown of democratic rule. As did Germany in 1933, the United States has also legitimately elected a leader who has promised to make the country prosperous again using an agenda that has been previously described and promoted. It includes focusing the blame on a specific group (illegal immigrants) for many of the country's complex problems, targeting that group with mass roundups, incarceration and no due process, targeting political opponents, the judiciary who may rule against policies and the media who may speak out against them. It includes threatening to annex weaker countries (Panama, Greenland, and Canada), promoting falsehoods about trade, breaking existing treaty agreements and initiating a punishing tariff war with its most faithful allies.  A Storm Unleashed asks young readers to consider how a people can subscribe to ideologies and policies that in the end can have far-reaching national and global effects. It is a question well worth considering and this short novel offers readers that opportunity.

Book Details:

A Storm Unleashed by Carol Matas

Toronto: Scholastic Canada Ltd.      2025

236 pp.

The Voyage That Changed The World by Thekla Priebst

The Voyage That Changed The World tells  the remarkable story of the first crew to sail around the world.

The story begins with a spice called cloves or cengkih. Hundreds of years ago this spice grew only on five islands in the Moluccas, an archipelego located in the Indian Ocean. The Moluccas were known as "the Spice Islands". There, on five islands grew cloves. They were used to give food a distinctive flavour and also to preserve food and in medicines. They grow on tall trees, beginning as small buds. These buds are carefully picked by hand and dried. As they dry they turn from green to brown and the clove buds give off a very distinctive smell, "both sharp and sweet at the same time." 

Cloves along with many other spices eventually made their way to Europe via several maritime trade routes that tracked through East Asia, "through the islands of Indonesia, around India to the Middle East, where they crossed the Mediterraneean to reach the heart of Europe."  There were routes across land too, through Alexandria to Tunisia and on to Genoa, Italy.

Spices had been traded for millennia by "Greek, Roman, Arab, Persian, Indian, Javanese, Malay, and Chinese merchants along natural trade routes that span half the globe."  But in the late fifteenth century, spices became very precious and Europeans decide to find a direct route to the Spice Islands. The two countries most determined to claim the Spice Islands are Spain and Portugal and they choose different routes to explore. Portugal travels east reaching the southern tip of Africa (now called the Cape of Good Hope) in 1488. Spain travels west with Christopher Columbus claiming he had reached India, but actually landing in the Americas in 1492.  

In an attempt to resolve things, the two countries sign the Treaty of Tordesillas. All territories to the west of an imaginary line from the North Pole to the South Pole belong to Spain, while those to the east are claimed by Portugal.  The Portuguese win the race to the Spice Islands with Vasco da Gama reaching India in 1498 and Portuguese gaining control of the city of Malacca in 1511. But the question remains: Where is the dividing line between the poles on this side of the world? Who do the Spice Islands "belong" to?

In September 1519, King Carlos I (also known as Charles V Holy Roman Emperor) approves a Spanish expedition consisting of five ships to "find a passage for Spain through the new continent".  It is led by Fernao de Magalhaes (Ferdinand Magellan), a Portuguese navigator who had travelled twice to India. Among those accompanying Magellan are Juan Sebastian Elcano who is a boatswainand Enrique of Malacca, an interpreter and also Magellan's slave. Magellan as the Captain-General of the expedition is in charge of five ships: San Antonio, Concepcion, Victoria, Santiago, and Trinidad. It is an expedition that will ultimately reach the present day Philippines and . But it will be considered a failure by the Spanish king because Spain cannot lay claim to the Spice Islands. Magellan's calculations have determined that they have crossed the Treaty of Tordesillas line.  The Moluccas lie in territory claimed by the Portuguese! 

An attempt to form alliances and form trade agreements for Spain within the Philippine archipelago go badly when some of the indigenous peoples on the islands do like the Europeans. The ensuing conflict has devastating consequences for Magellan the remaining crew of his expedition.

Discussion

The Voyage That Changed The World is an engaging and informative account of the expedition led by Ferdinand Magellan to find a route to the Spice Islands. Magellan was generally considered to be the first to circumnavigate the globe but in fact that is not considered likely not to be true. He was murdered after attacking the Indigenous peoples on Cebu and never completed his voyage.

Author Thekla Priebst first presents the background story behind the desire to find a route to East Asia - spices! The driving force was the desire of Europeans to obtain the spices directly rather than through traders who brought the spices to Europe. At that time, knowledge of far off lands was very limited and the desire to explore was also a factor. From this point on, the focus is on the Magellan expedition and the main players in the expedition, the organization of the ships and crew are well explained. 

Besides telling the story of Magellan's expedition, Priebst also provides her readers with a wealth of information about topics related to the expedition. For example, there are separate features throughout the book on the various indigenous peoples Magellan and his crew encounterd: the Tupinabi on the eastern coast of Brazil, the Tehuelche of Patagonia, the peoples of Tierra del Fuego, Polynesian seafarers, and the CHamoru of the Marianas.

Throughout this account, the author explains how the Europeans of the late fifteenth century viewed their world and their place in it. The Doctrine of Discovery was an important part of this view - it was the belief that explorers could claim as their own, land that was already inhabited by people with their own language and culture. This belief would have far-reaching consequences for the indigenous peoples the Europeans encountered, consequences that are still felt today.

European explorers like Magellan did not respect the people they encountered. For example, Magellan wanted to bring back to Spain two Tehuelche men to prove they actually existed. However the Tehuelche were not willing to leave their land and so Magellan tricked them into boarding his ship and then imprisoned them. These men did not survive the journey to Spain. As Priebst writes, "...they saw the people they were encountering as items of interest rather than fellow human beings."

It was Magellan's attempts to create an alliance with the King of Cebu in April of 1521 that led to his murder. On a neighbouring island of Mactan, Datu Lapulapu rebelled against the Europeans and their influence. In an attempt to punish Lapulapu, Magellan attacked Mactan, believing he could easily subdue them, only to be killed during the battle on April 27, 1521.

For centuries Magellan was believed to have been the first to circumnavigate the globe however, historians now belief that honor may actually go to his slave and interpreter, Enrique. Magellan bought Enrique in 1511 and on Magellan's voyage, he travelled far enough to return to the land where his native language was spoken. 

The Voyage That Changed The World is filled with colourful and informative artwork, created digitally, and includes maps, charts and other graphics. Among the most compelling are two graphics whosing the number of men who began the expedition (240) and the number of surviving sailors who made it home to Spain (18). 

For those interested in the age of explorers, The Voyage That Changed The World is a must read! 

Image credit: Molucca map https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maluku_Islands_en.png

Book Details:

The Voyage That Changed The World by Thekla Priebst
Beverly, MA:  Wide Eye Editions     2025

79 pp.

Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta

Twelve-year-old Simran (Simi) Singh lives in Northern India with her mother, Henna Ali (Ammi) who is Muslim and her father Gurbeer Singh (Abbu) who is Hindu/Sikh. Ammi is a nurse while her father works on the family's farm. He was once a champion field hockey player. Simi loves field hockey. Her best friends are Ravi who is always late with his homework and Reena. 

Miss Sharma announces that Simi has been chosen to be captain of their middle school field hockey team. While Ravi and Reena offer their congratulations, Ashok who is one of Simi's classmates sends her a paper airplane telling her to leave. But Simi is determined not to let his threat get to her. Simi's team will play in the All-India National Youth Gold Cup in Delhi later in the year.

Their family's Eid celebration is marred when a rock crashes through their livingroom window. Simi sees a car with the bumper sticker, COMBAM race off. The rock is wrapped in a piece of white paper that reads, "Cancel marriage between Sikh men and Muslim women. Sikh and Hindu men are being lured to Islam with marriage. We will punish you. Go home, beef eaters."  Dadu (Gurdeep's father) believes that this intolerance will pass but Nanaji (Ammi's father) wonders if it will.

Simi recalls when a group of boys called her "Mozzy" and taunted her with "Mozzy daughter" and told her to go to her country. Ammi explains that a group called COMBAM which stands for Committee to Ban Marriages to Muslims, are against interfaith marriages. They want to "cleanse" India of Muslims.

At school the harrassment continues with a note on Simi's locker that reads "Go home, Captain Simi."  As coach of the hockey team and a leader, Simi has to be careful how she responds to these taunts. "Coach says a team leader has to be positive, thoughtful, and show no fear." At their field hockey practice, Simi gets pushback from Ashok and his friends who seem to be ignoring her. At a second practice, Simi confronts Ashok who tells her, "Your parents aren't legally married...Sikhs and Muslims can't marry." Ashok tells Simi that her mother "...isn't a real Indian" and that they should move to Pakistan. but Simi retorts that her mother's family goes back seven generations in their town. 

As Ashok continues to ignore Simi she decides to ignore him. She eventually challenges him to either participate or step aside. When he does what she wants, Simi praises him. The following week there are pamphlets on their doorstep from the Brotherhood for Justice - a political party. The three men come to the house and are taken into the livingroom by Dadi (Simi's father's mother). The men question Dadu and Dadi if there is a Muslim living in the house and if they have beef in the fridge. Simi realizes that the men want to know if her mother - a Muslim lives there.

That night Simi overhears her parents and her father's parents discussing what is happening. Dadu advises that Gurdeep, Henna, and Simi should seriously consider leaving India. They suggest going to America where Gurdeep's cousin, Kuldeep works as a taxi driver in New York. Later at her mother's parent's home, Simi questions them about her parent's marraige and how to change people's minds. They advise her to always act with respect and love.

At the school gate on Monday, two men are handing out flyers that state, "Preserve Pure Indian Genes"  Simi sees Ashok with the flyers stuck in her back pocket, leading her to doubt that she is having any impact on him. In an attempt to change the minds of the men handing out the flyers, Simi, Ravi, and Reena order samosas and jalebis for them at their construction site. After giving the men ten minutes to eat the snacks, they had the men flyers which explain the snacks were made by an Indian Muslim and that India's culture is richer for the Muslims.

But when Simi arrives home she learns that Abbu was attacked at the farm by men from COMBAM. He was badly beaten and his knees smashed. He was rescued by the farm workers and taken to hospital. After surgery on his knees, it takes over a month for him to heal. To pay for his surgery, Simi's family must give up part of the farm. Over the next few months the electricity is cut off and Dadi sees one of her gold necklaces.

They learn that more families have been attacked and there are rallies by the Brotherhood for Justice. Simi's family decidee that Gurbeer will go first to America and then Simi and Henna will follow. However, the U.S. denies Gurbeer's visa application. Nanaji tells Gurbeer that somehow he must leave the country because the situation in escalating. Interfaith couples are being targeted and some interfaith marriages are being prevented. He tells Gurbeer he will have to pay a smuggler to get him into America legally. 

The final plan is for Abbu to fly to Mexico via Spain and then smugglers take him across the US-Mexico border. Five days after leaving India, Abbu calls and tells them he is now with his cousin Kuldeer in New York.  With the help of a lawyer, Abbu will apply for visas for Henna and Simi to ger political asylum.

Then the Brotherhood wins a local election, meaning they can do what they want. For days the Brotherhood and COMBAM celebrate. After school one day, Simi is accosted by four boys, one of which is Ashok. However, he tries to stop the boys and eventually does protect Simi. Ashok asks if she is okay and Simi tells him if she isn't around to lead the team in Delhi, to remember to lead by example.

Abbu's petition for their visas is rejected. Nanaji tells Henna to go to the travel agent to pay for their way to America. Two weeks later, Ammi and Simi leave India for America. It will be a journey much more arduous than that of Abbu and Simi will face challenges that will change her forever.

Discussion

Freedom Seeker is a story that tackles the subject of religious intolerance in India, refugees, and illegal immigration in America. The novel is divided into three parts: 1 Fear and Flight, 2 Loss and Longing, and 3 Rescue and Reunion. The front matter contains a map showing Simi's journey.

The main premise of the novel is that Simi and her family are facing discrimination because of her parents interfaith marriage: Henna is Muslim while Gurdeep is Hindu. In the novel, the fictional group Brotherhood for Justice is seeking to outlaw such marriages and are harrassing and attacking interfaith families. When the Brotherhood for Justice wins the local election, this supposedly gives them the freedom to further their agenda against interfaith marriages. It should be noted that while there is no such group in India most Indians do not support interfaith marriage, believing it is better to marry within their own religious community. This various across regions, educational levels and even religious faiths. Laws now forbid brides or grooms from converting to their spouse's religion. This has resulted in attacks on couples in interfaith marriages. Hindus in particular are very much against interfaith marriages. The religious intolerance that Simi and her family are experiencing is a reality for those few interfaith families who do live in India. An Author's Note at the back of the novel providing some information on the situation in India might have been helpful to put the story within a proper context for younger readers. 

Simi's coach does not deal with Ashok and his friends, as they harrass and make life difficult for Simi. He doesn't step in to remind Ashok that his behaviour is unacceptable and poor sportsmanship. Simi tells her coach that it doesn't seem to be about her abilities but "...about who I am, where I come from." He reminds her that it is "about proving to yourself that you can rise above it, that you are more than their narrow views." Eventually Simi does get through to Ashok, so the coach's strategy does work. But it is also putting the responsibility on a young girl to deal with what might have become a more serious situation, given the growing intolerance. It does seem though that Simi's focus on drawing Ashok into the game he loves helps him see her differently. He does protect Simi when she is attacked by a group of boys.

It is also interesting that school officials do not act on the men who are passing out flyers just outside the school gates, making the situation for the students stressful. And when Abbu is badly beaten, Simi's family does not report his assault to the police. If they do, there seems to be no action by the police to apprehend those responsible. It would appear that this inaction by school officials, police and the community at large are the reason Simi and her family have no choice but to leave.

Ruchira Gupta seems to present a very balanced view of the illegal immigrant experience in the United States. Although there is no mention of who is leading the United States, readers are told that things have drastically changed in the weeks since Abbu illegally entered the country. The area where he crossed is now blocked by a high wall "...made of tall iron spikes wrapped with four barbed wire rolls on both sides."  As with many illegal immigrants, Simi and her mother and the people they are with must risk crossing the Sonora Desert in Arizona. Eventually Simi and Ammi become separated as often happens with the children of refugees. 

The novel portrays the difficulties illegal immigrants face in relocating loved ones and difficulties immigration officials experience in dealing with so many immigrants with such varied circumstances. Children become separated from family. There are cold cages where the children are placed initially and later on at Casa Phoenix, a slightly better situation but many rules. There are some very good people who help Simi such as Pablo who plays games with the children, the woman Coast Guard volunteer who promises to try to find out about Simi's mother, Sophia who is Simi's counselor, and Rini Pose the journalist who manages to reunite Simi with her parents. Then there are others like Paul, Simi's case manager who seems indifferent and overwhelmed.  

The novel also incorporates a few characters from various countries in order to portray the variety of people who take desperate risks to enter the United States illegally in search of safety and a better life. For Simi and her family it is because of persecution in their home country. For others like Jose, who is from San Pedro Sula in Honduras, it is the threat of gangs who run the city. 

In Simi Singh, Ruchira Gupta has crafted an intelligent and resourceful character. Instead of fighting with Ashok, she manages to open  who is determined to locate her missing mother. She decides to use her ability to write and speak English to enlist the help of an Indian woman reporter.  This resourceful move, expedites Simi's case and helps locate her mother and reunite their family. The novel ends on a very hopeful and positive tone with many people coming together to get Ammi to New York and to her family.

Freedom Seeker is a timely novel about illegal immigrants and the struggles they face, offering hope in spite of so many obstacles and challenges.

Book Details:

Freedom Seeker by Ruchira Gupta
Scholastic Press      2025
298 pp.

Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand

Sixteen-year-old Nitasha Gupta lives with her mother and father and her older brother Shaan in Southern California. Her family is East Indian. Nitasha hates the constant smell of tumeric and garam masala in her hair and on her clothing. Her mother is always on the phone to her sisters or yelling at Nitasha. She resents her parents always telling her to say "haanji like an obedient India robot." They don't seem to like her having an opinion and want her to study to become a doctor. Like her brother, Shaan. He has the perfect job and is "Perfectly engaged to a perfect Indian lawyer." His fiance is Karishma.

Nitasha wants to work but her father tells her to focus on her studies, while her mother tells her "Young girls don't go to work." However, Shaan worked in high school. 

Nitasha and her family attend Arya Samaj every Sunday. Nitasha knows it is not good to drink at a religious ceremony but she gets small bottles of alcohol from her friend Ava's house. The havan or ritual is led by Nitasha's paternal grandmother. She lived with Nitasha's family but left when Nitasha was four-years-old after a fight with her mother. At this week's havan, Nitasha meets Nick whom she's known all her life. He was Nitasha's first and only boyfriend and her first and only kiss. However when her father found a love letter she wrote Nick, he took her for a drive and emphatically reminded her no boyfriends, and no love letters. But Nitasha is determined they will not choose her husband. There is much Nitasha doesn't understand including arranged marriages, calculus, Hinduism. But she does like Arya Samja.

Nitasha is worried because she doesn't have a date for homecoming. Her best friend, Ava has had many boyfriends. She's going to homecoming with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, Dylan. Nitasha wishes her mom was like Ava's mom who lets her do what she wants. But Ava doesn't really know Nitasha, that she wishes she was "hot. Blonde, Skinny, tall, pretty." Nitasha asks Ava to help her dye her hair blonde.

After an confrontation with her mother over her phone, Nitasha cuts herself. She lies to her parents, telling them she's tutoring Ava in AP Chemistry. Instead, they go to Ava's new friend Chloe's home where they do a makeover of Nitasha, dyeing her hair blonde. Chloe and Ava discuss losing their virginity, but Nitasha isn't interested in this aspect of Henry, a boy she likes. She tells Ava and Chloe "there's so much more to him."

At the party at Jack's house, Nitasha drinks so many shots of tequila that she is sick and at the Samja the next day doesn't feel well. While talking with Nick outside the Samja, Nitasha reveals that her grandma hates her mother therefore her and that although she loves her dad, he doesn't stand up to his mother.

In Nitasha's ceramics class, her teachers notices Nitasha's cuts on her arms. She asks if Nitasha is alright but Nitasha makes the excuse that she cut herself on the laundry basket. The teacher reminds Nitasha that she is always welcome to come to the art room during lunch hour. During lunch, Henry who just flirted with another girl, approaches Nitasha to ask her to help tutor him in biology. He flirts with her too. What Nitasha doesn't realize is that Henry likes Chloe.

That night while Ava is over, Nitasha learns that Henry has asked Chloe to homecoming. This devastates Nitasha especially when she realizes that her friend knew Henry was not really interested in her. This situation leads to Nitasha drinking and cutting.

Nick's family comes over for dinner and while their parents gossip, Nick and Nitasha talk about her missing homecoming. When they kiss, Nick realizes that Nitasha has been drinking and questions her. Nick's father has been in recovery for six years and he's concerned that Nitasha is drinking alone. She reveals that she was sad because of what happened between her and Ava, and Chloe and Henry. Just then Nitasha gets a text from Ava asking her to come to the afterparty.

The afterparty turns into a disaster for Nitasha, leading to devastating consequences. Nick and Nitasha attend the afterparty at Henry's home. However to do so, Nitasha lies to her mom, telling her they are going to get Froyo. Nick says they might check out the new Hindi movie afterwards. They arrive at the afterparty and dance together. Ava comes over and apologizes to Nitasha and the two girls begin drinking shots.  After doing four shots Nitasha wants to dance but Nick wants to leave. Ava promises to get Nitasha home safely and Nick leaves. With Nick gone, Nitasha takes Henry upstairs but he's not really interested in what she has in mind. Very drunk, Nitasha begins undressing and dancing on his bed. It is at this point that Chloe enters the room and is furious. She takes a video of Nitasha dancing on the bed and leaves vowing to get revenge.

The next morning at Ava's house, Nitasha is sick and gets and angry phone call from her parents telling her to come home immediately.  Ava tells Nitasha that Henry is worried about her and that Chloe is furious at finding her with Henry. While they talk, Ava discovers that Nitasha is cutting herself and questions her as to why she does this. Ava asks Nitasha why as best friends, she's been lying to her. She begs Nitasha to stop hurting herself and Nitasha promises to stop if she won't tell anyone.

At home, Nitasha's family is angry with her as they had no idea where she was. Her father brings her something to eat and tells her "This is not how Indian girls behave." When Nitasha argues with him, he tells her that she can't behave like American girls.

At school, things quickly unravel for Nitasha. When she goes to apologize to Chloe, she angrily tells Nitasha, "I'm going to make sure you go down for this." Chloe posts the video she took of Nitasha in Henry's room and it quickly garners millions of views. When Ava expresses surprise at Chloe, she responds, "Who cares? She has cuts on her arms and thighs that you can't see on the video. She's legit psycho."  Nick picks Nitasha up from school and expresses remorse about leaving her there but he explains that because of his father's alcoholism, he can't be around alcohol like that.

Twenty-four hours later, Shaan has seen the video and angrily confronts Nitasha. He tells her this can have consequences far into the future for her as colleges Google applicants. Soon the consequences spiral out of control as the video spreads. There is a magazine feature with the video about teens and drinking. Nitasha's parents learn of the video and are furious with her. Her Ama slaps her in the face and Shaan states that Karishma's parents have seen the video and want to break off the engagement. Ama ji screams that Nitasha's parents are at fault for giving birth to her and she tells them they are no longer welcome at her Samaj. Then Nitasha's father disowns her and her mother cries that she has ruined their name. In an act of utter despair and wanting to feel nother, Nitasha cuts, drinks and then overdoses on pills.

But this desperate act opens the door to self-discovery, revelation and healing both for Nitasha, her mother and others in their South Asian community.

Discusion

Fitting Indian is a graphic novel that explores the struggles first generation Indian-Americans encounter growing up and how parental and cultural expectations can sometimes be overwhelming. The author, Jyoti Chand states in her Acknowledgements that many of the events in the novel were inspired by her own life events.  She "deeply struggled" with her mental health as a teenager and eventually was able to also overcome issues with acohol consumption. Chand writes that although this is Nitasha's story "...it's also familiar to so many of us-young South Asian women who were put into a box too early in life and told how life should play out. Many of us struggled and still struggle silently, and some of us were lucky enough to have second chances to live a more fulfilling life."

Nitasha Gupta is a first generation East Indian teen girl who struggles under the weight of her cultural expectations. "Good Indian girls" do not work, they do not have boyfriends, and especially do not write love letters. However, it seems the same expectations are not placed on her brother Shaan who was allowed to work in high school. This cultural expectation likely revolves around the East Asian culture of arranged marriages in which families scout for good marriage prospects for their daughters and sons. A girl who works or has had boyfriends may be considered difficult or unsuitable as a prospective bride and there are many expectations placed on young Asian women. However, Nitasha doesn't want her parents to choose her husband. She wants to make her own choice. She wants to date, to attend homecoming, prom and have a boyfriend.

Nitasha is also dealing with parental expectations. She loves her ceramics class and wants to be an artist but her parents envision her going to medical school to become a doctor like her older brother Shaan. These expectations place enormous stress on Nitasha at a time when she is struggling to understand herself and determine what she wants in life as she enters adulthood. These pressures lead to Nitasha drinking and to cutting as ways to deal with her pain and her lack of voice. She is pushed over the edge when a video of her intoxicated and partially undressed goes viral, causing her embarrassment and shame for her parents.

Through the character of Dr. Baizley, Jyoti Chand offers some perspective on mental illness in the  Asian community. She points out to Nitasha that there is a stigma around mental health issues in some cultures, in this case Asian and South Asian communities. Nitasha points out that her aunt is bipolar but that no one in her family acknowledges her illness nor talks about it. And as Nitasha journeys through counselling and group therapy it is revealed that Nitasha's mother also attempted to take her own life  many years earlier. No one spoke about what happened, the silence and secrecy influencing the Gupta family dynamics. The unresolved issues led to continued conflict between Nitasha's mother Sunita and her mother-in-law that eventually began to affect Nitasha as well. 

When Nitasha and Shaan's father is hospitalized with high blood pressure, Shaan reveals that he found their mother when he was fourteen years old. He tells Nitasha, "The only thing I kept thinking was that she didn't love me anymore. Like, why would she do that if she loved me?"  However, when he found Nitasha, he has realized that it has nothing to do with him but that his mother was in pain.

Nitasha's struggles lead her to confront her family's attitudes towards mental illness but also those of the her South Asian community. With the help of Shaan's fiance Karishma, Nitasha arranges for one of Karishma's friends, who is a therapist to begin offering group therapy at their Samaj. Nitasha stands up to her grandmother who doesn't want this to happen.

The novel ends on a very upbeat, happy tone. Karishma's family allows the engagement to Shaan to proceed. Nitasha's parents both stand up to Ama jji. Her father sees the letter Nitasha wrote him and realizes that he has been very harsh with his daughter. He stands up to his mother, protecting both Sunita and Nitasha.Nitasha comes to recognize that her parents really do love her. Nitasha does receive an apology from Chloe for what she did. Nitasha tells Chloe she hopes she's learned her lesson. Readers learn that Chloe was bullied at her last school and in an effort to fit in at Nitasha's school she herself became a bully. Although Henry asks her to prom, Nitasha takes the lead and asks Nick. 

Chand uses the motif of the lotus flower to show how Nitasha is like the lotus. Her mother explains "A lotus lives in the murkiest waters yet remains clean and beautiful. It is always pure regardless of what comes its way. The lotus flower always rises above." She reminds Nitasha, "I want you to remember  that, no matter how muddy things get around you, be like the lotus and keep reemerging more beautiful each and every time."  This is a message all readers can take to heart in times of struggle.

Book Details:

Fitting Indian by Jyoti Chand

New York: Harper Alley    2025