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Summary
Summary
During the fall leading up to her bat mitzvah, Tara (Hindi for "star") Feinstein has a lot more than her Torah portion on her mind. Between Hebrew school and study sessions with the rabbi, there doesn't seem to be enough time to hang out with her best friend Ben-O--who might also be her boyfriend--and her other best friend, Rebecca, who's getting a little too cozy with the snotty Sheila Rosenberg. Not to mention working on her robotics project with the class clown Ryan Berger, or figuring out what to do with a priceless heirloom sari that she accidentally ruined. Amid all this drama, Tara considers how to balance her Indian and Jewish identities and what it means to have a bat mitzvah while questioning her faith.With the cross-cultural charm of Bend It Like Beckham, this delightful debut novel is a classic coming-of-age story and young romance with universal appeal. Praise for My Basmati Bat Mitzvah"In my opinion, My Basmati Bat Mitzvah shows that everyone is different in their own way and some get the advantage of being culturally diverse. I rate the book 5 stars!"--Shivani Desai, age 13STARRED REVIEW"The latest spunky heroine of South Asian-Jewish heritage to grace middle-grade fiction, Tara Feinstein, 12, charms readers from the get-go in this strong, funny debut."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Tara's inquisitiveness, openness, and determination to chart her own path stand out in this warm story of family, faith and the ways people are unique yet intertwined."--Publishers Weekly "With a conversational and authentic tween voice, Tara invites readers into her world as she explores the larger issues of faith, compassion, and tradition while confronting the awkwardness that is puberty--her questions regarding God are poignant and relatable while her opinions on training bras are simply spot-on..."--The Bulletin of The Center for Children's Books"Authors often mention but then shrink from exploring in depth their characters' mixed religious heritage; it's a sensitive subject that demands close scrutiny. Freedman bucks that trend, avoiding didacticism by portraying broader issues through Tara's personality and unique circumstances. As Tara learns in this skillful exploration, an important source of her special strengths--questioning spirit, empathy and strong ethical compass--is her mixed heritage."--The Jewish Daily Forward"This story will have resonance for many children of many faiths at the cusp of religious adulthood."--Booklist"As she makes her way through these challenges, she learns a great deal about friendship, family, and heritage. Freedman handles the ethnic and religious diversity of Tara's family and friends with a light touch, but doesn't shrink from exploring some of the complexities of a dual heritage."--School Library Journal "This book's well-drawn characters bring two colorful cultures to vibrant life. The contemporary urban setting, cast with touches of humor and romance, frame mature ideas of peer and self-acceptance in a familiar, lighthearted world. Middle grade girls will readily befriend Tara and pick up new cultural understanding."--Library Media Connection
Author Notes
Paula J. Freedman has spent most of her career in digital media, producing multimedia websites for advertising agency clients, publishers, and television networks. She has a Master of Science degree in Publishing from Pace University, New York, and a Bachelor of Arts in English from the State University of New York at Buffalo. She was at Scholastic.com for nine years before she took off to write and now works part-time in A&E Television Network's digital media group to support her writing habit. She lives with a husband and two parrots in New York City. This is her first novel.
Reviews (6)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Freedman's debut packs in questions about cultural and religious identity, mother/daughter conflicts, first crushes, middle-school dilemmas, and friend crises. At times, the mix can be overwhelming, but the author combines the many plot elements into a thought-provoking narrative. Seventh-grader Tara Feinstein's bat mitzvah is fast approaching, and she is questioning her belief in God, as well as how the Jewish and Indian aspects of her heritage intersect. Tara's Indian-American mother, a convert to Judaism, has strong feelings about how Tara should approach the bat mitzvah, reflecting her own need to fit in, but Tara wants to make choices for herself and incorporate Indian elements into the celebration. Meanwhile, things have gotten awkward with Tara's best friend Ben-o, who seems to want to be more than friends; an irritating classmate, Ryan, is crushing on her, too; and Tara's other best friend, Rebecca, is growing closer to "major know-it-all" Sheila. Tara's inquisitiveness, openness, and determination to chart her own path stand out in this warm story of family, faith and the ways people are unique yet intertwined. Ages 10-14. Agent: Judith Riven Literary Agent. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
How could Tara let know-it-all Sheila Rosenberg get away with saying, "You're not even Jewish," when Tara's Indian-born mother converted "way before I was even born"? With her bat mitzvah on the horizon, Tara secretly wonders: "Was I about to become more Jewish, or less Indian?" A light, warm, humorous story about cultural identity, inner harmony, and ordinary middle-school trials and tribulations. Glos. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Tara's not sure she wants to have a bat mitzvah. Even though she's attended Hebrew school, her mother's Indian heritage has a pull on her, and she wonders if she dishonors her Indian grandparents by declaring her Judaism. Oh, and she's also not sure she believes in God. Debut novelist Freedman does a good job of exploring the feelings of a child of mixed heritage when it comes to culture, family, and religion. Setting the story in Manhattan gives it a realistic frame to discuss multicultural issues, though Tara sometimes seems a bit naive for a big-city kid. There's plenty of interpreteen action here, too, as Tara must navigate new terrain when one of her best friends (a girl) is interested in adding a third pal to their twosome, and another (a boy) seems to want to take their relationship to the next level. There are a few stereotypes here, especially Tara's Jewish grandmother, but this story will have resonance for many children of many faiths at the cusp of religious adulthood.--Cooper, Ilene Copyright 2010 Booklist
New York Review of Books Review
I grew UP in a Russian-Jewish-CubanScotch-Irish-German home. At the time, my ethnicity list was a personal torment. I'd ask my parents if we could please be French. Or Italian. Anything, as long as it was just one thing. Being a "half" - or, in my case, a handful - can still be complicated, as Paula J. Freedman makes plain in "My Basmati Bat Mitzvah," her candy-colored first novel about a New York "Hin-Jew," meaning, in this case, a girl whose mother is Hindu and whose father is Jewish. At 12, Tara Feinstein lives casually in both cultures. She sprinkles chaat masala on popcorn and loves matzo ball soup. A small statue of Ganesh, the Hindu god, sits on her dresser, and she actually enjoys Hebrew school - or at least she did. Now she has to plan her bat mitzvah, and she isn't sure she wants one. "Why was I doing this?" she asks. Her mother, a convert, admires Judaism from afar. Her father has not been to temple in "twelve hundred years." Her Gran is observant, but who knows what she really believes. Then there's Ben-o, her lifelong pal and possible boyfriend. He's a Catholic; would a bat mitzvah pry them apart? There's a trickier problem, the same one Judy Blume explored in her 1970 classic "Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret." Tara isn't sure whether she believes in God. And she can't discuss that with her parents. (They've booked the hall.) She tells her best friend, Rebecca, who changes the subject. Ben-o says she might go to hell. Imitating a Bollywood star, she covers her face, wailing, "Nahee!" It's an enemy, Sheila Rosenberg, who finally helps her make a decision. "I'm surprised you're having one, Tara," she says. "You're not even Jewish. Technically." That's it. She's having one. But she's not inviting Sheila. From there, the novel moves swiftly toward what Vijay, her faux-gangsta cousin, calls the "bazmatzah thing." And despite an inventive collection of crises (such as accidentally burning a treasured sari), she ends up exactly where she needs to be. True, Freedman makes a few wrong turns along the way. A section on Tara's Robotics Club goes nowhere. There's too much Sheila, and not enough Ben-o. And some characters are cardboard cutouts. Gran, who must be only in her 60s, sounds like an Old World bubbe on an ancient sitcom. None of this really detracts from Tara's quest to determine, finally, just who she is. "If everything was open to discussion," she concludes, "then just maybe there were no wrong answers" - nothing to stop her from being an ordinary Jewish girl with "a sprinkling of masala on top." "Mira in the Present Tense" (published in England as "Artichoke Hearts"), by Sita Brahmachari, is a lyrical, more serious novel about another "Hin-Jew," this one British and focused less on "the Indian Jewish thing" than on the awfulness of turning 12. Mira Levenson's family has gathered for her birthday at the home of her grandmother, Nana Josie, a bohemian artist who quotes Frida Kahlo. They all know Nana Josie is very ill, but they don't know she's ordered a coffin until it arrives unexpectedly at Mira's party. Stunned, standing between a pink cake and a casket, Mira gets her first period. Things get even weirder when Nana asks her to help paint a landscape on the coffin. Like Tara, Mira has an overinvolved Jewish father and a loving if distracted Indian mother. And like Tara, Mira isn't sure what she believes, addressing questions to a power she calls "Notsurewho Notsurewhat." Turning 12 has made her anxious: "It feels like I'm walking a tightrope," she says. "Something is happening to me right now. Present tense." Tara may have cured her "multiple ethnicity disorder" but Mira's problem is more diffuse. She must learn to live inside that present tense, overcoming her shyness and her fear of engaging with others - even the dying. As Nana says, most people grow "tough little shells around their hearts," like "the outside layers of an artichoke." Mira, she hopes, will stay open and strong but still tender, like an artichoke as "you come closer to the heart." ? BETSY ISRAEL is the author of the teenage memoir "Grown-Up Fast" and "Bachelor Girl," a cultural history of single women. "The Mythology Project," her first young adult novel, comes out next year.
School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-7-A sweet, lighthearted story of friendship with a touch of romance. Tara Bernstein, 12, is preparing for her Bat Mitzvah but, as she ponders her mixed Hindu and Jewish heritage (her Indian mother converted to Judaism), she wonders whether having a Bat Mitzvah is the right thing for her. In the meantime she is dealing with the ups and downs of her best (boy) friend, Ben-O, acting strangely toward her; her best (girl) friend becoming best friends with someone she dislikes; and a boy she despises having a crush on her. Added to all this angst is her fear of revealing that she accidentally burned a hole in a sari that is a family heirloom she was hoping to wear for her Bat Mitzvah. She is also reluctant to acknowledge that she and her friends are changing. As she makes her way through these challenges, she learns a great deal about friendship, family, and heritage. Freedman handles the ethnic and religious diversity of Tara's family and friends with a light touch, but doesn't shrink from exploring some of the complexities of a dual heritage. This will take its place beside Jenny Han's Shug (S & S, 2006): that is, if you can keep it on the shelves.-Sue Giffard, Ethical Culture Fieldston School, New York City (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
The latest spunky heroine of South AsianJewish heritage to grace middle-grade fiction, Tara Feinstein, 12, charms readers from the get-go in this strong, funny debut. Cheerful, sociable and a New Yorker through and through, Tara's blessed with two best friends: Ben-o, a gentile, and Rebecca, who's Jewish. Both girls attend Hebrew School. As boys prepare for their bar mitzvahs and girls for bat mitzvahs, Tara struggles with doubts (does she believe in God?) and fears devaluing her beloved Indian heritage. When Sheila Rosenberg tells Tara she's not a real Jew because her mother (an Indian-American convert to Judaism) wasn't born a Jew, Tara hits back--literally. Tara looks forward to working with Ben-o in Robotics Club for seventh grade. Instead, she's stuck with ADD-challenged Ryan Berger, whose interest is Tara, not robotics, and her comfortable relationship with Ben-o is threatened now that he seems to want to take it to the level of romance. Her simmering feud with Sheila complicates life further. Authors often mention but then shrink from exploring in depth their characters' mixed religious heritage; it's a sensitive subject that demands close scrutiny. Freedman bucks that trend, avoiding didacticism by portraying broader issues through Tara's personality and unique circumstances. As Tara learns in this skillful exploration, an important source of her special strengths--questioning spirit, empathy and strong ethical compass--is her mixed heritage. (Hindi-Yiddish glossary) (Fiction. 10-14)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
