“Details of the cultures and everyday life of both India and Canada are integrated seamlessly…readers will see themselves in the realistic characters.” The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books “Eloquently composed…insightfully written…Banerjee’s is a promising new voice …compelling and imaginative.” “Beautiful and complex…pleasingly accessible.” Paula Danziger, late author of over 25 books for children Chicago Public Schools recommended read for Women’s History Month (for grades 5-8).Toronto Public Library recommended read for May, Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

India’s largest book club, India Today Book Club, chose Maya Running (Penguin Books India edition) as a Pick of the Season.India Abroad Magazine featured MAYA RUNNING in its cover story for the April 22, 2005.One of New York Public Library’s Books for the Teen Age 2006.One of Chicago Public Library’s “Best of the Best” children’s novels published in 2005.In this delightful debut, first published over a decade ago by Wendy Lamb Books/Random House and now available again as a new edition, Anjali Banerjee offers a fresh perspective on universal hopes and dreams, as narrated by an insightful girl with an irrepressible imagination.

She must journey across continents to find the truth, her culture, and herself. When Pinky steals Jamie’s heart, Maya pleads with Ganesh to remove all obstacles to her happiness, a plea that backfires in hilarious and painful ways. Then Maya’s beautiful cousin Pinky arrives from India bearing the scent of sandalwood and her most treasured possession-the statue of Ganesh. She longs to fit in, and she yearns for Jamie Klassen, the local bad boy with the John Travolta strut. Born in India and raised in the land of moose and snow, she feels neither Indian enough for Indians nor Canadian enough for Canadians. It’s 1978, and Maya Mukherjee is the only brown-skinned middle schooler in her tiny Manitoba town.

But Ganesh is more powerful than he looks, and he’s about to send a young girl on a magical journey of self-discovery. The small golden statue of the Hindu elephant god, Ganesh, hardly looks like an all-knowing Granter of Wishes. If you would like copies for schools or libraries, please email me through the Contact page.

Maya Running by Anjali Banerjee