You Have Given Me a Country by Neela Vaswani

SAME SUN HERE by Silas House and Neela Vaswani is like a blast of air conditioning from an open door on a baking hot Manhattan day, at once refreshing, relieving, sweet and enlivening. Honest, poignant letters between two 12-year-old pen pals-one Kentucky born and raised, the other born in India and living in New York's Chinatown-demonstrate that the most important things in life are common among us all. SAME SUN HERE takes a novel approach to this topic and reveals to young readers how authentic conversation and trust between human beings can bring them together despite all that divides them. Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Readers who enjoy differing points of view will particularly enjoy this old-fashioned yet contemporary letter-writing exchange. While at its heart a friendship story, this is also a celebration of writing, both as a means of processing emotions and as a vehicle for making the writer more observant of people and places, and both Meena and River come to appreciate and value the role the letter writing plays in their own lives over the course of their relationship. Readers will be held by the kids’ challenges, along with the warm bond they share. Audiences will revel in this lovely story about a boy and girl who are not so different from one another after all.Ī finely detailed description of two separate worlds that demonstrates a deep well of shared humanity. In an era when social media permeates every area of our lives, Meena and River’s old-fashioned camaraderie through letters feels refreshing and true. This tender and breathtakingly honest story about unlikely friendships and finding common ground will captivate readers. Readers will feel confident that their friendship will get them through whatever lies ahead.

The two connect as pen pals, and their letters reveal the unusual intersections and the stark contrasts in their lives.

House and Vaswani alternate between the voices of Meena and River.

Even better than reading a refreshingly honest story by one talented writer is reading one by two such writers.

You Have Given Me a Country by Neela Vaswani