Jasmine Skies

Product Description
Mira Levenson is bursting with excitement as she flies to India to stay with her aunt and cousin for the first time. As soon as she lands, Mira is hurled into the sweltering heat and a place full of new sights, sounds, and deeply buried family secrets. From the moment Mira meets Janu she feels an instant connection. He becomes her guide, showing her both the beauty and the chaos of Kolkata. Nothing is as she imagined it--and suddenly home feels a long way away. Before Mira leaves India she is determined to uncover the truth about her family, whatever it takes, and she must also make a decision that will break someone's heart.
From School Library Journal
Gr 6–9—Fourteen-year-old Mira Levenson, born and raised in England, is about to meet her mother's family in India and experience a country very different from the one in which she grew up. She will stay with her mum's first cousin, Anjali, who has a daughter about the same age. The family lives in Kolkata (Calcutta), where Anjali runs a refuge for homeless children. Though the cousins have chatted via Facebook and Skype, the protagonist wonders if they'll get on well in person. Mira's narration successfully introduces the beauty and difficulties of Kolkata, offers glimpses of contemporary life in the subcontinent, and highlights the tension between the traditional and modern. Readers will likely recognize Mira's own conflicting emotions about love, religion, and loyalty. She struggles with her love for Jide, her best friend in London, and her developing feelings for 16-year-old Janu, a former street orphan who now works at the refuge. Mira also wonders why her mother and Anjali have kept their families apart. The girl's dreams and reality collide before she returns to London in a fast-paced, satisfying conclusion. Mira was first introduced in Mira in the Present (Albert Whitman, 2013), but Jasmine Skies can stand alone and provides an evocative look of living and loving two cultures.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library
Review
"Vivid descriptions of the exotic setting, an emotionally honest (if naive and stubborn) narrator, and a sweet romance should captivate readers." Booklist, September 15, 2014

"The girl's dreams and reality collide before she returns to London in a fast-paced, satisfying conclusion. Mira was first introduced in Mira in the Present Tense, but Jasmine Skies can stand alone and provides an evocative look of living and loving two cultures." School Library Journal, September 1, 2014

"Jasmine Skies would be a good companion to read during studies of India and also for culturally balanced collections. Even girls not interested in other cultures may appreciate Mira's experiences as she grows." VOYA, October 1, 2014
About the Author
Sita Brahmachari was born in England to an Indian doctor from Kolkata and an English nurse from the Lake District. She lives and works in North London with her husband, three children, and a temperamental cat. Mira in the Present Tense was her first novel.