Climbing the Stairs, by Padma Venkatraman

A very thoughtful YA book set in India during WWII and the Indian revolution against British colonial rule.

15 year old Vidya feels responsible when her father is injured at a protest, and the family must move in with relatives who despise them. Her brother Kitta is worried by the Japanese invasion of Burma and wants to join the British Army, although it was a British policeman who injured their father. A love interest named Raman offers Vidya a chance to escape to America with him, but her grandfather saves the day by offering to send her to college.

It was good, and interesting as an adult, but I think maybe not terrifically appealing to most teens.

Double Stars, by Padma Venkatraman

I very much wanted to enjoy this.

Venkatraman is an astonishingly accomplished woman, and I can see why she would be drawn to the story of Caroline Herschel, one of the first female astronomers.

I felt like maybe there wasn't enough original material to truly flesh out the story, as so many of the primary source quotes were so very dry, and the photos included in the book seemed arbitrary and were kind of startlingly offputting.

I can see how this story could have made for fantastic historical fiction, but as nonfiction, it read very dry to me. I must say that I can hardly wait to read her novel, Climbing the Stairs, when it comes out.

Double Stars

Quality: 6 Popularity: 3 Overall: 9 YA