When Meena's family moved from India to New York City, she was left behind with her Dadi (grandmother) for nine years. It's not easy joining them after all that time but her favourite person is her older brother, Kiku. At school, they've chosen pen pals and hers is River, a boy who lives in Kentucky and his favourite human is Mamaw, his grandmother. Both children have fathers who work far from home. In their letters, they can each be their own true selves and share details about their daily lives, both the joys and sorrows. After River's best friend, Mark, is seriously injured as a result of a mining accident, River joins an anti-mining march with Mamaw. He speaks out against the problem, with unexpected results for both him and Meena. Reviewed by BPL volunteer LS.

Great epistolary novel written by 2 writers of a correspondence between 2 pre-teens, one in NYC and one in Kentucky. Moving and thought-provoking. Marred only by the very OVER THE TOP ending in the Kentucky side of the story. I especially enjoyed learning about Indian immigrants from Meena. I will look for more books from Neela Vaswani. Ialso enjoyed The Whole Story of Half A Girl by Veera Hiranandani.

This is a marvelous novel in two voices,an young Indian girl named Meena in New York City and an Appalachian boy named River in rural Kentucky. Their stories are told in a series of letters they exchange as pen-pals. Authentic interests and emotions color their shared experiences and readers will learn a great deal about two very different environments. Friendship is beautifully portrayed as something that grows over time and sustains us in difficult circumstances. Both boys and girls will enjoy reading Same Sun Here.