Karen L. Day – Author Welcome to my blog! I'd love to hear your comments

Rickshaw Girl, by Mitali Perkins

I just finished reading RICKSHAW GIRL, by Mitali Perkins (Charlesbridge) to my 10-year-old daughter. Now I have to admit that I know Mitali well. We live in the same city and we’ve been in the same critique group for six years. I know what to expect from Mitali’s stories. A strong, independent narrator. Supportive, loving parents. A well-defined plot. In Mitali’s works there are never any buried treasures to find, no worlds to save. Her stories are about seemingly average, yet strong, girls who change or grow up before our eyes. Character development at its best, my favorite! But unlike the narrator in MONSOON SUMMER, whose problem is thrust upon her when her family moves from California to India for the summer, Naima creates her own problem. Her family is poor, living in Bangladesh, and the only income comes from her father who drives a rickshaw in their village. Naima and her family are worried about the father who works long hours in the hot sun. So when he rests one afternoon, Naima takes the rickshaw out on her own, determined to earn extra money, just as her friend, Saleem, does for his family. But Naima has never driven a rickshaw and she crashes it almost immediately. Her parents are angry, of course, but what drives Naima to right her wrong is her disappointment in herself, and in letting down the family. Naima is a wonderfully flawed character who resonated so much with my daughter and me. Mitali would have easily gone a different way here. The poverty and gender issues are enough fodder in and of themselves to guide a strong narrative. But by making Naima responsible, Mitali complicates the narrative, sets it apart, and shows the consequences, and rewards, when a strong-willed girl takes matters into her own hands.  

About karen

I grew up in a small town in northern Indiana much like Laketon, the fictional town in TALL TALES. In the stories I wrote when I was younger, I often had my characters live in cities or other parts of the country. But as I got older I began to realize that I needed to set my novels in places that I knew. And I know all about cornfields, Lake Michigan and the stink from foundries and steel mills. I've held a lot of jobs over the years. I started a dog walking business in downtown Chicago. I strung tennis racquets. I worked as a newspaper reporter. I taught writing at several colleges. Now I have two jobs. I take care of my three kids (I also have a husband and two birds and we live just outside Boston) and I write YA and middle grade fiction. I think these are the two best jobs I've ever had.