Clarke, Judith. Kalpana's dream

CLARKE, Judith. Kalpana's dream. Front Street. 164p. c2004. 1-932425-22-5. $16.95. $16.95. J

Clarke is an award-winning author of children's books in Australia and this story about some friends and their families is charmingly different. Kalpana is Neema's great-grandmother, who dreams of a journey from her village in India to Australia to see her family there and to look upon the face of her dead husband. Neema doesn't know much about her heritage, and Kalpana's visit is at first confusing: it's difficult to communicate. Even Neema's mother's Hindi is a bit awkward, so she isn't the best translator; Neema's father is enthusiastic about family connections, but he has no connection except by marriage to India. How this visit works out is the core of the story, and it is moving--and funny, too. Instead of the frequently used first-person narrator format, this story is told in third-person omniscient (if I remember correctly from English class). The reader looks down at the action and sees how the characters' lives are interwoven in ways even they don't always know. One major character in this little story is Gull Oliver, who has returned to the neighborhood after living away for seven years. He is attracted to Neema and takes to the streets on his skateboard, flying by her house every evening. The elderly Kalpana sees the boy zoom by in the dark--flying--and she longs to fly too. This story could best be described as unusual and amusing. Claire Rosser, KLIATT

J--Recommended for junior high school students. The contents are of particular interest to young adolescent and their teachers.

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