Supriya Kelkar

When a racist incident rocks her small Michigan town, eleven-year-old Lekha must decide whether to speak up or stay silent, even as she struggles to navigate her life at home, where she can be herself, and at school, where she is teased about her culture.

When ten-year-old Indian American Geetanjali, part of a family of classical Hindustani music singers, believes her neighbor has become an ichchaadari naagin, a cobra that can turn human, she must overcome her fears and harness the power of her voice before the naagin changes the whole town into snakes.

"In 1857 India, 12-year-old Meera escapes a life she has no say in--and certain death on her husband's funeral pyre--only to end up a servant to a British general in the East India Company. When a rebellion against British colonizers spreads, she must choose between relative safety in a British household or standing up for herself and her people"--

In 1942, when Mahatma Gandhi asks Indians to give one family member to the freedom movement, ten-year-old Anjali is devastated to think of her father risking his life for the freedom struggle. But it turns out he isn't the one joining. Anjali's mother is. When Anjali's mother is jailed for doing so, Anjali must step out of her comfort zone to take over her mother's work, ensuring that her little part of the independence movement is completed.

An American child of East Asian descent revels in dances, clothing, games, foods and other characteristics of both cultures, while blending them into what makes this American desi unique.