Mira in the Present Tense

Gr 6–8—Mira's year seven is a time of discovery and growth during which she experiences first love and first loss. Pat Print, author and children's book reviewer, comes to the 12-year-old's London school to conduct a writing workshop and to learn more about young people's reading habits. Mira is excited to keep a journal as Pat asks since she has just received a diary as a birthday present. Nana Josie, who is ill, gives her a special bracelet charm, not just for her birthday but to pass along a piece of family history. The Levensons are all artistic, but it is Mira who helps Nana paint beautiful images on her plain white coffin. Nana's pain grows more constant as cancer continues to take her energy and, ultimately, her life. The decorated casket helps friends and family of Mira's much-loved paternal grandmother recall the things of this world that Josie enjoyed and loved, evoked and celebrated. Through writing, experience, and developing friendships, Mira comes to know her classmates and her own strength as never before. Her infatuation with Jidé, orphaned in Rwanda, grows into first love through shared grief, hope, and mutual respect. The story is told in Mira's voice, and readers will be affected by her growing awareness and sophisticated, often philosophical musings about religion, family, and growing up, and observations generated by her East Indian and British background. Characters, including adults, have complex emotions. Although pacing is a bit slow at times, the novel's emotional intensity and honesty are likely to propel readers to the satisfying, if not entirely happy, resolution.—Maria B. Salvadore, formerly at District of Columbia Public Library