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Flying in Colors
Aunties tell nine-year-old Pavi that she’s asking too many “big women” questions, but she’s tired of grown-up secrets. How are babies born? And why do people die? A beautiful debut about family, tradition, and the healing that comes from finding the answers.
It’s 1975, Tamil Nadu, South India, and nine-year-old Pavi is living a carefree life with her large intergenerational family. Everyday is an adventure. Why not steal 233 mangoes from the neighbor’s tree? Or make up grand stories that take her to Jupiter? If only there wasn’t a sadness lingering over the family. You see, her uncle Selva died just five months after she was born.
Pavi may have been just a baby when Selva died, but she feels close to him, as if he’s watching over her, helping her when she needs it. But she has so many questions about Selva’s death. And why does anyone die when they do?
The grown-ups in Pavi’s life are hiding something. They dismiss her questions. For instance, when Pavi and her cousins ask about babies, all anyone says is “Little women are asking big women questions.” And when she asks about Selva, there are no answers either. Why is talking about life and death so hard? Pavi is tired of grown-up secrets!
But what if those answers can hurt, or bad things happen? Can prayers and traditions really protect those we love? Pavi is determined to find out.
It’s 1975, Tamil Nadu, South India, and nine-year-old Pavi is living a carefree life with her large intergenerational family. Everyday is an adventure. Why not steal 233 mangoes from the neighbor’s tree? Or make up grand stories that take her to Jupiter? If only there wasn’t a sadness lingering over the family. You see, her uncle Selva died just five months after she was born.
Pavi may have been just a baby when Selva died, but she feels close to him, as if he’s watching over her, helping her when she needs it. But she has so many questions about Selva’s death. And why does anyone die when they do?
The grown-ups in Pavi’s life are hiding something. They dismiss her questions. For instance, when Pavi and her cousins ask about babies, all anyone says is “Little women are asking big women questions.” And when she asks about Selva, there are no answers either. Why is talking about life and death so hard? Pavi is tired of grown-up secrets!
But what if those answers can hurt, or bad things happen? Can prayers and traditions really protect those we love? Pavi is determined to find out.
320 pages, Hardcover
Published May 6, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 26, 2025
In a Nutshell: A middle-grade fiction set in 1970s South India. First person narrative, meandering plotline, interesting child characters, lacklustre adults, emotionally intense themes. Didn’t click with me as much as I had hoped.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
I was quite excited when I saw this debut work set in 1970s Madras (now known as Chennai.) Neither the era nor the location are often explored in children’s fiction. As an OwnVoices work, it promised a great deal of authenticity. The resultant experience was decent, but I am not sure if it matches what was promised in the blurb.
Bookish Yays:
🥭 The digital copy begins with Pavi's family tree from both her maternal and parental sides. Next comes a section titled ‘Notes of Tamil culture’. Both would be helpful to little readers, Even I found the Notes informative.
🥭 Pavi’s cousin Ruku is an outstanding character. I really enjoyed the conversations between these two girls. The fact that they were not similar to each other in behaviour and yet were so strongly connected in thoughts and deeds made their bond even more special.
🥭 The portrayal of 1970s India. Though I wasn’t even alive in that decade, many incidental points in this book reminded me of similar experiences from my childhood. The sadness of summer vacations ending, the joy of the first summer mango, the excitement of getting cartoon book labels for textbooks, older relatives calling our hair a “crow’s nest” when it wasn't oiled, exchanging old clothes for new vessels with the travelling utensil salesman… Nostalgia!
🥭 Quite a few fun adventures in the storyline. The mango escapade and the coin disaster would probably be my favourites. Pavi’s imaginative wonderings add to the magic of the story.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🌴 There’s no cohesive plot, as a result of which the book feels disjointed at times. Such jumpiness is not that uncommon in a middle-grade adventure book, but this certainly isn’t an adventure story. Furthermore, as commonly occurs with many debut novels, this story includes too many topics, enhancing the fragmented feel.
🌴 Despite the bright colours on the cover and the joyful-sounding title, this is not a happy book. It explores several dark emotions and superstitions, all of which are well-handled but might be upsetting to younger or sensitive middle-graders.
Bookish Nays:
🌶️ I don't think the blurb is indicative of the content. While it contains no major spoilers, it seems to present a different picture of the plotline, making it slightly misleading. Some of the details it contains don’t even come in the first half of the book and are just incidental to the main story.
🌶️ The chapters are on the longish side, which might not work for every young reader. But this too would have been okay had the pacing been steadier. Unfortunately, the meandering and episodic narration makes the proceedings too slow to be engrossing.
🌶️ Surprisingly for a book with Indian characters, I couldn’t relate to most of them. Some of the secondary characters echoed sentiments I have heard in my extended family, but their role is quite minor. Pavi seems age-appropriate at times, and overly young at other times. No character other than Ruku was impactful to me.
🌶️ The book has too many irresponsible adults with poor behaviour and no sense of communication. Their actions as well as their over-reliance on secrets got on my nerves.
🌶️ As we hear the story from Pavi’s direct narration, we know only what she knows. Considering the above-mentioned tendency of the adult characters to keep secrets, this limits our understanding of their behaviour.
🌶️ Some inclusions struck me as odd. The spelling of Chanakya being written as “Chanukya”, a child referring to Mahatma Gandhi as “Gandhi” and not by his honorific or the respectful ‘-ji’ at the end. Not that kiddos abroad would notice this, but authenticity is authenticity, after all.
🌶️ Personal Preference (and minor spoiler):
🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 6 hours, is narrated by Rita Amparita. I did like her performance in general, and she even provided the right emotions for Pavi’s first-person POV. However, her mispronunciation of Indian names was very distracting to me. “Aa-ppa” for “Appa”, “too-laa-see” for tulsi, “Bo-say” for (Subhash Chandra) Bose… so many words were butchered! I didn’t even understand a couple of the words until I cracked the phonetic code bit by bit. In a book with multiple Indian names and words, these incorrect pronunciations stopped me from immersing myself wholly into the narrative. Honestly, if the narrator were of Indian origin, I would have been even more critical of her performance. But looking up her profile showed me that she is an Indonesian-American voice actor. Indonesia and India aren’t the same country and not even in the same part of the Asian continent! Why wasn’t someone of Indian origin or with greater familiarity with Indian names/words chosen for this audiobook?
Then again, most of the listeners might be based in the USA, so they probably won't find the audio version as irksome as I did. 🤷🏻♀️
Overall, this was a decent debut, but perhaps a bit too introspective and random for the intended audience. It also needs some editing to ensure a better flow to the storyline and tighter pacing.
The novelty of the setting might also work for or against the book, depending on the knowledge of the reader. I am an Indian (and way older than middle-grade age) so I am familiar with the ethos of the Indian culture as well the atmosphere of this historical time period. I am not sure how successful this book would be with middle-graders in the USA, even if they are of Indian origin. The historical storyline and unfamiliar cultural background might distance the plot from contemporary young ones.
Of course, a few children do like to read challenging books that offer a glimpse into a new culture and a young protagonist’s imaginative world. I hope this book reaches their hands.
2.5 stars, rounding down for the audio version.
My thanks to Hear Our Voices Book Tours, Lee & Low Books, Tu Books, and Recorded Books for a complimentary copy of 'Flying in Colors' via Edelweiss+ & NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn't work out better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Threads || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Plot Preview:
1974. Nine-year-old Pavithra (known to us as ‘Pavi’) lives with her extended family in Madras. Life is an adventure with companions such as cousin Ruku, younger brother Arun, and granduncle Chanki. But there’s always a shadow over Pavi. Her mother’s brother Selva died exactly five months after she was born, and some family members seem to hold Pavi’s birth as the trigger for the loss. Pavi obviously never knew Selva personally, but she feels like she has a strong tie to him. When the grownups in her life don’t offer her satisfactory answers, she uses her imagination to find the way ahead.
The story comes to us in Pavi’s first-person perspective.
I was quite excited when I saw this debut work set in 1970s Madras (now known as Chennai.) Neither the era nor the location are often explored in children’s fiction. As an OwnVoices work, it promised a great deal of authenticity. The resultant experience was decent, but I am not sure if it matches what was promised in the blurb.
Bookish Yays:
🥭 The digital copy begins with Pavi's family tree from both her maternal and parental sides. Next comes a section titled ‘Notes of Tamil culture’. Both would be helpful to little readers, Even I found the Notes informative.
🥭 Pavi’s cousin Ruku is an outstanding character. I really enjoyed the conversations between these two girls. The fact that they were not similar to each other in behaviour and yet were so strongly connected in thoughts and deeds made their bond even more special.
🥭 The portrayal of 1970s India. Though I wasn’t even alive in that decade, many incidental points in this book reminded me of similar experiences from my childhood. The sadness of summer vacations ending, the joy of the first summer mango, the excitement of getting cartoon book labels for textbooks, older relatives calling our hair a “crow’s nest” when it wasn't oiled, exchanging old clothes for new vessels with the travelling utensil salesman… Nostalgia!
🥭 Quite a few fun adventures in the storyline. The mango escapade and the coin disaster would probably be my favourites. Pavi’s imaginative wonderings add to the magic of the story.
Bookish Mixed Bags:
🌴 There’s no cohesive plot, as a result of which the book feels disjointed at times. Such jumpiness is not that uncommon in a middle-grade adventure book, but this certainly isn’t an adventure story. Furthermore, as commonly occurs with many debut novels, this story includes too many topics, enhancing the fragmented feel.
🌴 Despite the bright colours on the cover and the joyful-sounding title, this is not a happy book. It explores several dark emotions and superstitions, all of which are well-handled but might be upsetting to younger or sensitive middle-graders.
Bookish Nays:
🌶️ I don't think the blurb is indicative of the content. While it contains no major spoilers, it seems to present a different picture of the plotline, making it slightly misleading. Some of the details it contains don’t even come in the first half of the book and are just incidental to the main story.
🌶️ The chapters are on the longish side, which might not work for every young reader. But this too would have been okay had the pacing been steadier. Unfortunately, the meandering and episodic narration makes the proceedings too slow to be engrossing.
🌶️ Surprisingly for a book with Indian characters, I couldn’t relate to most of them. Some of the secondary characters echoed sentiments I have heard in my extended family, but their role is quite minor. Pavi seems age-appropriate at times, and overly young at other times. No character other than Ruku was impactful to me.
🌶️ The book has too many irresponsible adults with poor behaviour and no sense of communication. Their actions as well as their over-reliance on secrets got on my nerves.
🌶️ As we hear the story from Pavi’s direct narration, we know only what she knows. Considering the above-mentioned tendency of the adult characters to keep secrets, this limits our understanding of their behaviour.
🌶️ Some inclusions struck me as odd. The spelling of Chanakya being written as “Chanukya”, a child referring to Mahatma Gandhi as “Gandhi” and not by his honorific or the respectful ‘-ji’ at the end. Not that kiddos abroad would notice this, but authenticity is authenticity, after all.
🌶️ Personal Preference (and minor spoiler):
🎧 The Audiobook Experience:
The audiobook, clocking at 6 hours, is narrated by Rita Amparita. I did like her performance in general, and she even provided the right emotions for Pavi’s first-person POV. However, her mispronunciation of Indian names was very distracting to me. “Aa-ppa” for “Appa”, “too-laa-see” for tulsi, “Bo-say” for (Subhash Chandra) Bose… so many words were butchered! I didn’t even understand a couple of the words until I cracked the phonetic code bit by bit. In a book with multiple Indian names and words, these incorrect pronunciations stopped me from immersing myself wholly into the narrative. Honestly, if the narrator were of Indian origin, I would have been even more critical of her performance. But looking up her profile showed me that she is an Indonesian-American voice actor. Indonesia and India aren’t the same country and not even in the same part of the Asian continent! Why wasn’t someone of Indian origin or with greater familiarity with Indian names/words chosen for this audiobook?
Then again, most of the listeners might be based in the USA, so they probably won't find the audio version as irksome as I did. 🤷🏻♀️
Overall, this was a decent debut, but perhaps a bit too introspective and random for the intended audience. It also needs some editing to ensure a better flow to the storyline and tighter pacing.
The novelty of the setting might also work for or against the book, depending on the knowledge of the reader. I am an Indian (and way older than middle-grade age) so I am familiar with the ethos of the Indian culture as well the atmosphere of this historical time period. I am not sure how successful this book would be with middle-graders in the USA, even if they are of Indian origin. The historical storyline and unfamiliar cultural background might distance the plot from contemporary young ones.
Of course, a few children do like to read challenging books that offer a glimpse into a new culture and a young protagonist’s imaginative world. I hope this book reaches their hands.
2.5 stars, rounding down for the audio version.
My thanks to Hear Our Voices Book Tours, Lee & Low Books, Tu Books, and Recorded Books for a complimentary copy of 'Flying in Colors' via Edelweiss+ & NetGalley. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book. Sorry this didn't work out better.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Connect with me through:
My Blog || The StoryGraph || Instagram || Threads || X/Twitter || Facebook ||
May 4, 2025
Flying in Colors is a very sweet and entertaining middle grade book about nine year old Pavi and her family in India in 1975. The story follows Pavi wanting to learn more about the death of her Uncle Selva who passed away just 5 months after Pavi’s birth. Through Pavi’s quest to learn more we get to see all her different family members, their adventures and stories, situations at school, history and culture in Tamil Nadu, South India, and so much more.
The book feels very slice of life, while I was reading it I couldn’t tell what the arc of the plot was going to be. So it did feel a bit meandering at times or like it was dragging on and on. But overall I really enjoyed reading this book. I listened to it on audio and I think the narrator did an excellent job at bringing the story to life and voicing all the different characters. If you’re a middle grade fan then I suggest checking this one out. It feels very unique for the age category.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
The book feels very slice of life, while I was reading it I couldn’t tell what the arc of the plot was going to be. So it did feel a bit meandering at times or like it was dragging on and on. But overall I really enjoyed reading this book. I listened to it on audio and I think the narrator did an excellent job at bringing the story to life and voicing all the different characters. If you’re a middle grade fan then I suggest checking this one out. It feels very unique for the age category.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an advance copy via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
April 22, 2025
Such a cute book filled with the questions of childhood & imbued with culture! Loved that there was a glossary as well 💛
May 20, 2025
"She's gone into the darkness where she came from..."
True, Lies, and Superstition. This is a book for readers with an open mind or understanding of the culture. Sometimes, we underestimate young readers, but they can embrace a book like this at their age, and one day, they will reread it and have another experience. I always feel that having more experiences, even if we only get half of it, is always better than not at all.
Questioning all that is relatable to Life and Death like it's a tug of war between these two. Fear pushes to one side, but makes people respect the other. It's quite philosophical and thought-provoking. Through the eyes of a child who questions, as the author writes something like this: a child asks questions of a woman because she's ready to listen. The mother will have a baby, the uncle passed away, and America is a dream away filled with possibilities. But there are other possibilities.
Sad but emotional and powerful.
True, Lies, and Superstition. This is a book for readers with an open mind or understanding of the culture. Sometimes, we underestimate young readers, but they can embrace a book like this at their age, and one day, they will reread it and have another experience. I always feel that having more experiences, even if we only get half of it, is always better than not at all.
Questioning all that is relatable to Life and Death like it's a tug of war between these two. Fear pushes to one side, but makes people respect the other. It's quite philosophical and thought-provoking. Through the eyes of a child who questions, as the author writes something like this: a child asks questions of a woman because she's ready to listen. The mother will have a baby, the uncle passed away, and America is a dream away filled with possibilities. But there are other possibilities.
Sad but emotional and powerful.
May 8, 2025
We all have asked questions to elders in our childhood, sometimes funny sometimes serious. Many times those answers were not as per our satisfaction and we have searched them on our own. The protagonist of this book finds herself in the same situation.
Set in the 1970s South India, a nine year old Pavi is just like other kids. Doing adventures with her cousins, innocent mischiefs and annoying the grownups with her million questions. But some of her questions, like about her uncle, are always been avoided. Her innocent mind cannot understand the concept of birth and death. She is becoming tired of not knowing all of this. What will she do? Will she leave it to the future or try to search the answer herself. Read on to find out.
It was an impressive read. Author has done a great job in discussing and handling the topic of death and grief in the family. Every person deal with it differently. But how does it affects the children of the family. The book discusses it in a very sensible and mature way.
It is an educational yet a serious book for a middle grader. Good to teach kids about the concept of life cycles and how to deal with it. There are not many books on this topic.
Apart from this, I learned a lot about Tamil culture through this book. Its always a delight to discover new traditions, culture and customs. These are an integral part of the story.
Overall I enjoyed the book a lot. Recommended from my side. It is for all age groups. Go for it.
Set in the 1970s South India, a nine year old Pavi is just like other kids. Doing adventures with her cousins, innocent mischiefs and annoying the grownups with her million questions. But some of her questions, like about her uncle, are always been avoided. Her innocent mind cannot understand the concept of birth and death. She is becoming tired of not knowing all of this. What will she do? Will she leave it to the future or try to search the answer herself. Read on to find out.
It was an impressive read. Author has done a great job in discussing and handling the topic of death and grief in the family. Every person deal with it differently. But how does it affects the children of the family. The book discusses it in a very sensible and mature way.
It is an educational yet a serious book for a middle grader. Good to teach kids about the concept of life cycles and how to deal with it. There are not many books on this topic.
Apart from this, I learned a lot about Tamil culture through this book. Its always a delight to discover new traditions, culture and customs. These are an integral part of the story.
Overall I enjoyed the book a lot. Recommended from my side. It is for all age groups. Go for it.
August 29, 2025
Many thanks to NetGalley, RB Media, and the author for the ALC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This story was so nostalgic; it felt like biting into the sweetest mango on the hottest summer day right after spending all day running around playing made-up games. It's funny how 9-year-old Pavi's life set in the 70s in Tamil Nadu is not much different from mine in the early 2000s in the neighboring state of Kerala.
This story will, in my opinion, seem very foreign to Western readers, while readers from the South Asian diaspora will be able to find at least one similarity with it. It is a slice-of-life, multilayered coming-of-age story that takes you through the dynamics of a typical South Indian family, the food, the culture, and the emotions—grief, joy, loss, and happiness—all in a few short hours. We see the drive of immigration, of religion, of superstition, of prejudice, and everything in between through the eyes of a 9-year-old.
The narrator kept the story on track—yet again I do wish there was a bit more refinement to the pronunciation of Tamil, as this story is fully set in India in a post-colonial era. This one small detail would have made this book shine even more.
This story was so nostalgic; it felt like biting into the sweetest mango on the hottest summer day right after spending all day running around playing made-up games. It's funny how 9-year-old Pavi's life set in the 70s in Tamil Nadu is not much different from mine in the early 2000s in the neighboring state of Kerala.
This story will, in my opinion, seem very foreign to Western readers, while readers from the South Asian diaspora will be able to find at least one similarity with it. It is a slice-of-life, multilayered coming-of-age story that takes you through the dynamics of a typical South Indian family, the food, the culture, and the emotions—grief, joy, loss, and happiness—all in a few short hours. We see the drive of immigration, of religion, of superstition, of prejudice, and everything in between through the eyes of a 9-year-old.
The narrator kept the story on track—yet again I do wish there was a bit more refinement to the pronunciation of Tamil, as this story is fully set in India in a post-colonial era. This one small detail would have made this book shine even more.
April 27, 2025
Pavi is a young 9 year old girl who believes that she is the main cause for her uncle’s death when she was only a few months old. When Pavi was born, there were complications and her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. This is a bad omen that someone close to the mother will pass and that someone close was Pavi’s Uncle Selva.
Having believed that she is the cause of her uncle’s death, she is curious about life and death. She asks the grown-ups some very grown-up questions that they don’t want to answer. She wonders about life and even makes up her own stories to help cope with death.
How did Uncle Selva pass away? No one will tell Pavi. Does Pavi find peace when it comes to death? How does Pavi feel and how does she deal with “being the cause of her uncle’s death”?
This book says it is for middle schoolers, but I did think it was a bit intense for that age range. Growing up, I didn’t really get the concept of death because I never knew anyone who passed while I was young. I just didn’t understand the meaning of death, so I think it is pretty intense to read about it at such a young age. I think it’s a great book to read if a young child is dealing with death as the writer is does a great job talking about death, especially through the lens of the South Indian culture.
Having believed that she is the cause of her uncle’s death, she is curious about life and death. She asks the grown-ups some very grown-up questions that they don’t want to answer. She wonders about life and even makes up her own stories to help cope with death.
How did Uncle Selva pass away? No one will tell Pavi. Does Pavi find peace when it comes to death? How does Pavi feel and how does she deal with “being the cause of her uncle’s death”?
This book says it is for middle schoolers, but I did think it was a bit intense for that age range. Growing up, I didn’t really get the concept of death because I never knew anyone who passed while I was young. I just didn’t understand the meaning of death, so I think it is pretty intense to read about it at such a young age. I think it’s a great book to read if a young child is dealing with death as the writer is does a great job talking about death, especially through the lens of the South Indian culture.
July 26, 2025
Pavi is a nine year old girl living in 1975 India with her mother, father, and little brother as well as their extended family. Pavi has been told all her life about her Uncle Selva who loved her so much but died in an accident when she was only 5 months old. The story is told through Pavi’s perspective over a year of time during which her father works toward their family moving to America, their mother gets pregnant with a third child, and Pavi learns that her birth might have foretold her uncle’s death. There are sweet moments peppered throughout about Pavi and her cousins made up games and also moments of mischief including mango theft and running away from school or home. There are several disjointed parts of the story such as never learning how Selva died, what happened to their uncle Chantri, and where babies come from since this is all told from Pavi’s perspective and she is never told these answers either. These omissions could lead to reader frustration. The book does provide a list of family members and names at the start of the book as well as an extensive glossary of terms at the back. Optional purchase for libraries serving children in grades 4th through 6th.
June 6, 2025
Set in South India in the 1970s, this story explores a context that Western readers in particular may be less familiar with.
Pavi is a 9 year old girl who lives with her large family in this middle grade novel which contains intergenerational elements and unusual family dynamics. Pavi's life is emotionally rich, and includes her brother and cousin, as well as an array of uncles and aunts and grandparents who are affectionate and tell her stories.
But there are also some topics that are seemingly off limits - including the death of her maternal uncle Silva 5 months after Pavi's birth,which seems to be inexplicably intertwined with her own life.
The book is entertaining enough overall, but not outstanding. It is worth reading though, for the era it describes, its novelty value, and the multicultural elements it offers. It gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
Pavi is a 9 year old girl who lives with her large family in this middle grade novel which contains intergenerational elements and unusual family dynamics. Pavi's life is emotionally rich, and includes her brother and cousin, as well as an array of uncles and aunts and grandparents who are affectionate and tell her stories.
But there are also some topics that are seemingly off limits - including the death of her maternal uncle Silva 5 months after Pavi's birth,which seems to be inexplicably intertwined with her own life.
The book is entertaining enough overall, but not outstanding. It is worth reading though, for the era it describes, its novelty value, and the multicultural elements it offers. It gets 3.5 stars.
I received a free copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review
May 9, 2025
👧🏻review: What an amazing book. This book looks like a middle-grade book but has plenty of mature elements for kids to explore while reading it. Pavi is a young South Indian Tamil Nadu girl who has always been curious about everything. While some of her questions were cringey, I personally think that she brought some fascinating facts to the table for readers to understand. I know that in our Asian culture kids are not supposed to ask adults any questions that are not suitable for children, so I know Pavi struggles to get anyone to answer them. I love how the story evolves in and out and while it brought some interesting ideas; therefore this beautiful cover book is absolutely ideal for middle graders who are anxious and have vast curiosity about anything and everything. I think it is fine to ask questions rather than finding them in the wrong places.
May 8, 2025
This book was really uneven for me... the pacing was sometimes rushed and sometime laborious. The main character acted super-young while very serious things were happening all around her. Some sections (like the made-up superhero part) lasted forever and didn't add anything to the plot, while some things (Pavi's family lying to her about her newest sibling's death) were glossed over and never explained.
I feel like this book could've used a stronger editorial hand to tighten it up and even it out.
I feel like this book could've used a stronger editorial hand to tighten it up and even it out.
May 7, 2025
This was such an emotional and adorable read. TBH, This was me at 9, always asking questions then being told to stop talking or being "grown folks business". I do wish parents did better with those of us that happen to be inquisitive (or nosey, as some of the elders would say). I loved her character and some of the antics that she found herself involved in. Perfect read for those who have Littles in their lives
January 14, 2025
E ARC Provided by Edelweiss Plus
Review closer to publication.
Review closer to publication.
May 8, 2025
This book touched on some heavy topics that even for me an adult were hard. I did like that it touched them. I loved the culture in this and the family aspects.
September 6, 2025
Pavi’s life is a series of adventures that often get her into trouble but most often she escapes with just embarassment.
July 2, 2025
This was a touching, layered coming-of-age story told through the eyes of curious nine-year-old Pavi. In this narrative Pavi navigates the mysteries of family, tradition, and loss in 1970s Tamil Nadu. Pavi is definitely curious about the world around her and also full imagination. I think this helps add depth to the MC helping provide a story that’s full of warmth and depth. Also the cultural nuance and emotional complexity added depth to the overall story. While the themes are heavy, the author handles them with care, making space for wonder, grief, and self-discovery.
The audiobook narration by Rita Amparita is expressive and immersive, though I think her voice felt a bit too mature for the young MC. Still, her delivery adds richness to the storytelling.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Audio ARC.
The audiobook narration by Rita Amparita is expressive and immersive, though I think her voice felt a bit too mature for the young MC. Still, her delivery adds richness to the storytelling.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Audio ARC.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews