Skip to main content

"How to Find What You're Not Looking For"

Written by Veera Hiranandani
       
Image Source: The Horn Book
"How to Find What You're Not Looking For" is about Ari Goldberg and her family in 1967. Ari's older sister, Leah, falls in love with an Indian boy that is Hindu. The Goldbergs do not approve their daughter marrying an immigrant, who is also not Jewish. Leah elopes and disappears without so much of a word to Ari. Ari is battling the prejudice of her parents toward Raj while also being bullied at school last the only Jew in the sixth grade class. As if having dysgraphia didn't make her school life complicated enough! The Goldbergs are struggling to keep their beloved bakery afloat and Ari desperately wants to find Leah. With the help of Jane, her best friend, Ari secretly begins searching for Leah.
        In attempt to check for authentic reflections of the characters I read a review by the Jewish Book Council. Ari's mannerisms felt like a convincing ordinary girl with her internal thoughts trying to figure out everything going on with her. Hiranandani include several historical events throughout the story including "Loving vs. Virginia" which overturned laws against interracial marriage.
        Hiranandani wrote a poignant story about a girl trying to figure out where she belongs in a world where she is stuck in the middle of her parents and her sister and trying to bring them all back together.

Hiranandani, Veera. How to Find What You're Not Looking For. Kokila, 2021. 372 pages. TR. $10.16, ISBN 978-0-525-5553-2.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Let's get reading!

Welcome!  I will be using this blog to respond to and evaluate children's books for the LIS 721 Library Materials for Children class for Fall 2025. I really enjoyed and learned so much in the Materials for Young Adults class and hope to do the same in this class. Happy reading!
Post a Comment
Read more

"A Different Pond"

Written by Bao Phi                    Illustrated by Thi Bui Image Source: Amazon           The illustrations in "A Different Pond"  are almost all darker richer tones to depict the darkness of the hour that the Dad and the boy are up at. When there is light it is a deep yellow to show the warmth and comfort of their home, but also representing their lights without lamp shades to help diffuse the light in the house, as a lampshade is an extravagance for them. Thi does a wonderful job of using tones of blue and brown to shade the environment and shadows around the father and son that adds a beautiful depth to the images but also adds to the symbolism of the weight that the father feels everyday when he is fishing so that their family can eat.          The text in this book is appropriate for the children reading it and is a credible conversation. "A Different Pond" is a real...
Post a Comment
Read more

"A Little Like Magic"

Written and Illustrated by Sarah Kurpiel Image Source: readbrightly.com           The illustrations in "A Little Like Magic"  use a whimsical cool color scheme to help show the cold of the winter as they journey out in the cold. There are touches of warm colors when looking through windows into the warm house, as well as her toy horse to represent the warmth and comfort they bring. The full-page spreads that show the mother and child outside during the day use muted cool colors, while the full-page spreads at night use deeper, richer cool colors. Sarah does a wonderful job using lines to help show movement and the cold wind. The lines also help keep the eye moving throughout the spreads.          The text in this book is appropriate for the children reading it as it is simple and most of the language is vocabulary they would have heard before. Each page has one to three sentences. Repetition is used when the main character revi...
Post a Comment
Read more