INDIA
Climbing the Stairs
Set during World War II and the last days of British occupation in India, this remarkable debut poignantly depicts a young girl struggling to find her place in a mixed-up world, and tells a powerful story about love and loss set against a fascinating historical backdrop. (Amazon.com) Lexile:750 The Mirror of Fire and Dreaming
In a pristine valley hidden in the Himalayas, Anand has a disturbing vision. His mentor and spiritual guide, the Master Healer Abhaydatta, is apparently in grave danger. What should he do? If he conveys this information to his elders, he'll waste precious time. But is it wise to take matters into his own hands? Anand makes his choice and embarks on a spectacular adventure that takes him not only across contemporary India but also several hundred years into the past to the time of the Moghul rulers. There he encounters powerful sorcerers, a haughty and arrogant prince, and a jinn capable of unspeakable magic. (Simonandschuster.com) Lexile: 900 Jahanara
With this remarkable diary of Princess Jahanara, acclaimed author Kathryn Lasky allows readers to experience the sumptuous wealth and unforgettable drama within the famed Moghul Dynasty of 17th-century India. (Sholastic.com) Lexile: 810 |
Blue Jasmine
Twelve-year-old Seema must leave her extended family in India and move to Iowa after her father accepts a new job. Once she settles in Iowa City, she has to learn to speak English, meet new friends, and find ways to hold onto the heritage and culture she left behind. (Sholastic.com) Lexile: 740 The Conch Bearer
In a dingy shack in the less-than-desirable Indian neighborhood he calls home, twelve-year-old Anand is entrusted with a conch shell that possesses mystical powers. His task is to return the shell to its rightful home many hundreds of miles away. Accompanying him are Nisha, a headstrong but resourceful child of the streets, and a mysterious man of indeterminate age and surprising resources named Abadhyatta. His quest will take him farther from home than he's ever been and will teach him more than he ever imagined, and it will force him to make a poignant decision that will change him forever. (Sholastic.com) Lexile: 790 The White Elephant
How can a beautiful white elephant be a terrible curse? Run-Run, a young elephant trainer, discovers the answer when he incurs the fury of the prince. The boy's punishment? The gift of an elephant, white as a cloud. From that moment forward, the curse reveals itself. According to tradition, so rare an elephant cannot be allowed to work for its keep. It is poor Run-Run who must feed the beast the hundreds of pounds of food it eats each day, and scrub it clean, and brush its pom-pom of a tail, and wash behind its ears, and, above all, keep it from doing any work. Oh, if only Run-Run could make the magnificent white elephant disappear! Clever as a magician, he does— but the curse has tricks of its own for Run-Run. (Sholastic.com) Lexile: 770 |
The Jungle Book
Saved from the jaws of the evil tiger Shere Khan, young Mowgli is adopted by a wolf pack and taught the law of the jungle by lovable old Baloo the bear and Bhageera the panther. (Sholastic.com) Lexile: 1140 The Jungle Book
(Scholastic Junior) An exciting retelling of Rudyard Kipling's classic tale for beginning chapter book readers! Mowgli is a boy who was raised by wolves. He lives in the jungle and spends his days climbing trees, eating honey, and swimming in forest pools. The jungle is Mowlgi's home — but not everyone wants him there. Mowlgi has a dangerous enemy, the ferocious tiger Shere Kahn. Mowgli knows that someday he will be forced to fight Shere Kahn — or leave the jungle for good. (Sholastic.com) Lexile: 740 The Life of Pi
The son of a zookeeper, Pi Patel has an encyclopedic knowledge of animal behavior and a fervent love of stories. When Pi is sixteen, his family emigrates from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship, along with their zoo animals bound for new homes. The ship sinks. Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose fear, knowledge, and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth." After hours of coercion, Pi tells a second story, a story much less fantastical, much more conventional--but is it more true? (Amazon.com) Lexile: 830 |
Text and Photo Sources: 1. Goodreads.com; 2. Sholastic.com; 3. Amazon.com; 4. Simonandschuster.com;