Family stories - realistic fiction 2022

It's been so hot out that I've been spending a lot of time indoors reading.  Hooray for awesome new books to read!   These two realistic fiction books could not be more different, but I thought they were both terrific. 

The first one is called Thirst and it's written by Varsha Bajaj.  It's about Minni, who lives with her loving family in one of the poorest parts of Mumbai, India.  Her dad runs a tea stall, her mom works as domestic worker for a rich family, her older brother works in a restaurant and Minni goes to school, but it's hard!  One of the things the family has to do each day is wait in line for water.  There is a tap not far from Minni's house, but it doesn't operate consistently or very efficiently, so sometimes they wait a long time and other times, not as long.  Sometimes the water is discolored or bad smelling and they are told to boil the water before drinking it.  One day, Minni's brother gets invited for a ride in a friend's new car.  The kids all go and they end up witnessing a crime-water theft-people are stealing water from the very taps that Minni's family relies on for water and selling it to make a lot of money.  Minni's brother is spotted by one of the bad guys and the family believes it would be safer for him to go and stay with relatives in the country.  Minni misses him terribly, but the family suffers even more when her mother falls ill and also goes to stay with relatives.  Minni is expected to go after school do the domestic job that Minni's mom was doing, plus keep up with the laundry and food preparation and shopping that her mom would usually do.  Minni is surprised to find that the rich people live with luxury that she has only read about-like as much water as you want that comes from a tap right inside your house!  A bathroom that is as big as Minni's whole house and it doesn't have to be shared with anyone! Minni would like to be friends with the daughter of the lady of the house, but her grandmother is very unkind about the social lines between them.  This is a very interesting story about how life is different for people who are poor.  Minni is a very likable and relatable character and the people around her are people you'll recognize too-people who are kind and giving and people who are prejudiced and people who are willing to take advantage of others misfortunes. There's also a bit of a mystery in the book which makes it fun.  Thirst is going to be the middle grade selection for the Global Read Aloud this year and I think lots of kids and their teachers are going to love reading this book.  This would be a great story to compare to The Long Walk to Water by Linda Sue Park and to get kids thinking about the water we have available and what that's like in other places.  I thought this was a terrific story.  It came out a few days ago, so go find it!

And here's what Colby Sharp thought!

The second one is by a perennial favorite author of mine-Patricia MacLachlan.  She's written some amazing stories like "Waiting for the Magic" and "Sarah Plain and Tall".  Sadly, she died early this year and I know I will miss her amazing voice but in the meantime, we have this new treasure, called "My Life Begins".  It's about Jacob, a 9 year old boy who's kind of lonely.  He is an only child and his solution is a litter of puppies.  What he get instead are the Trips-three little sisters who are triplets.  He decides to study them as part of a year long science project.  At first the babies seem so similar that they have to color code them, but as they grow, the babies start to seem as different from each other as they can be.  Jacob's observations of them are loving and sweet, even when the babies are annoying.  Daniel Miyares's  black and white sketches provide a gentle counterpoint to the graceful text.  The book is compact-It's only 128 pages long with illustrations so it's highly accessible to the younger middle grade readers.  This would make a lovely read aloud for a family or fine read to yourself book for kids who are thinking about changes in their families.