OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile
Padma Venkatraman narrates her novel-in-verse depicting a young dancer’s struggle and resilience after a devastating accident. Sitar music and Venkatraman’s lilting accent orient listeners to the exotic Indian setting. Veda passionately studies the classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam, until a car accident leaves her a below-the-knee amputee. Listeners hear Veda’s anguish gradually turn to mature, spiritual acceptance as she overcomes her challenges and learns to dance again with a prosthetic limb. Venkatraman’s breathy voice and slow pacing capture the rhythm of the lyrical verse and reflect the meditative, sacred space that Veda inhabits when she dances. S.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Publishers Weekly
03/03/2014
Venkatraman (Island’s End) again follows the maturation of a passionate and serious young woman, this time in a verse novel set in contemporary Chennai, India. After teenage classical dancer Veda loses part of her right leg, her teacher doesn’t believe she can succeed even after Veda is outfitted with a prosthesis. Veda joins a new studio, where her perfectionism and determination clash with her instructors’ philosophy of emotional and religious expression. “You dance like a demon,” her attractive young tutor tells her, envying Veda’s strength while inadvertently highlighting her spiritual shortcomings. Aided by a cast of stock characters—a supportive grandmother, a disapproving but loving mother, and a wise older mentor—Veda sets aside her longing for applause and develops the “three kinds of love.... A healthy love of one’s physical self,/ compassion for others,/ and an experience of God.” Veda’s questions about the nature of God, her growth as an artist while performing a Buddhist tale of grief and acceptance, and her transcendent experiences linked to Shiva, often portrayed as a dancer, lend depth to her spiritual journey. Ages 12–up. Agent: Rob Weisbach, Rob Weisbach Creative Management. (May)
From the Publisher
"Venkatraman has created a rich, exotic, and fully human world that dazzles and delights. Her way with prose reflects Veda's with dancing: 'Nothing else fills me with as much elation as chasing down soaring music' This novel accomplishes exactly that."—Providence Sunday Journal
"[A] powerful depiction of a teen girl struggling to recover from an accident."—The Chicago Tribune
* " Set against a cardamom, melted butter, and semolina sojji-wafted landscape, the novel’s emotional expression and accompanying music impel the reader to share Veda’s belief that “Shiva dances everywhere. In everyone. In everything.”—Booklist, starred review
* " A beautiful integration of art, religion, compassion and connection.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “ Told in verse, this story is magnificently strong as Veda’s determination dances off the page and into the reader’s heart.”—VOYA, starred review
* “This exceptional novel, told entirely in verse, captures beautifully the emotions of a girl forced to deal with a number of challenges and how she overcomes them on her way to becoming a confident young woman. It is sure to appeal to readers who are also trying to find their place in the world.”—School Library Journal, starred review — various
various
"Venkatraman has created a rich, exotic, and fully human world that dazzles and delights. Her way with prose reflects Veda's with dancing: 'Nothing else fills me with as much elation as chasing down soaring music' This novel accomplishes exactly that."—Providence Sunday Journal
"[A] powerful depiction of a teen girl struggling to recover from an accident."—The Chicago Tribune
• " Set against a cardamom, melted butter, and semolina sojji-wafted landscape, the novel’s emotional expression and accompanying music impel the reader to share Veda’s belief that “Shiva dances everywhere. In everyone. In everything.”—Booklist, starred review
• " A beautiful integration of art, religion, compassion and connection.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
• “ Told in verse, this story is magnificently strong as Veda’s determination dances off the page and into the reader’s heart.”—VOYA, starred review
• “This exceptional novel, told entirely in verse, captures beautifully the emotions of a girl forced to deal with a number of challenges and how she overcomes them on her way to becoming a confident young woman. It is sure to appeal to readers who are also trying to find their place in the world.”—School Library Journal, starred review
The Horn Book
Brief lines, powerful images, and motifs of sound communicate Veda’s difficult struggle to accept her changed body—and her new limitations, especially in dance. . . . Subplots exploring other loves and losses also help Veda learn about herself, her faith, and her art. And, eventually, after a successful return to dance, Veda again feels whole.
The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
* “Deftly wrought free-verse. . . . The language is lilting and rhythmic . . . the sensory elements evocatively describe the sights and sounds of Veda’s rich Indian surroundings. Her existential ponderings . . . are woven seamlessly into the tale, and her moments of jealousy and rage are presented honestly. Heart-achingly hopeful and beautifully written, this story will remain with readers long after the final line of verse.
STARRED REVIEW Booklist
• “In Venkatraman’s delectably scented, sensual world, lyrically told through verse and through Veda, life is illuminated as a beautiful celebration of doing what comes naturally, as best as one is able. Veda's awakening of her gift throughout her altered body and revolutionary prosthesis provides a spiritually uplifting premise. . . . . The acclaimed author of Climbing the Stairs, Venkatraman deftly shapes readers’ comprehension of physical ability into a new arc of understanding. To even have a passing thought that Veda is disabled, rather than differently-abled, would be utter madness. Set against a cardamom, melted butter, and semolina sojji-wafted landscape, the novel’s emotional expression and accompanying music impel the reader to share Veda’s belief that ‘Shiva dances everywhere. In everyone. In everything.’
Gloria Whelan
In poetic imagery as graceful as Veda’s dancing, Venkatraman has drawn a vivid picture of contemporary India, and given a gift of faith and hope to all who, like Veda, find their dream slipping away.”—Gloria Whelan, author of National Book Award winner Homeless Bird
School Library Journal
★ 04/01/2014
Gr 6 Up—Despite the pressure from her parents to become an engineer, Veda dreams of being a dancer. She studies the classical Indian dance, Bharatanatyam, and has reached the competition finals. Impressed with her graceful lines and skill, the judges award her first place, and Veda is ecstatic. After posing for pictures, she is injured in an accident on the way home and her leg has to be amputated below the right knee. Devastated, she lies in her hospital bed devoid of hope until one day her doctor introduces her to a specialist from America. He sparks optimism in her because he understands that she needs to dance. Eventually Veda receives a prosthetic limb that allows her to walk and dance once again. She finds a new teacher for whom dance is more than a technical performance; it is an art form. Veda is placed with a student teacher, Govinda, who not only supports her as she relearns and strengthens her dancing but also becomes her friend. This exceptional novel, told entirely in verse, captures beautifully the emotions of a girl forced to deal with a number of challenges and how she overcomes them on her way to becoming a confident young woman. It is sure to appeal to readers who are also trying to find their place in the world.—Laura Fields Eason, Henry F. Moss Middle School, Bowling Green, KY
OCTOBER 2019 - AudioFile
Padma Venkatraman narrates her novel-in-verse depicting a young dancer’s struggle and resilience after a devastating accident. Sitar music and Venkatraman’s lilting accent orient listeners to the exotic Indian setting. Veda passionately studies the classical Indian dance Bharatanatyam, until a car accident leaves her a below-the-knee amputee. Listeners hear Veda’s anguish gradually turn to mature, spiritual acceptance as she overcomes her challenges and learns to dance again with a prosthetic limb. Venkatraman’s breathy voice and slow pacing capture the rhythm of the lyrical verse and reflect the meditative, sacred space that Veda inhabits when she dances. S.C. © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2014-03-12
Flowing free verse tells the story of a teenage dancer in Chennai, India, who loses a leg and re-learns how to dance. As a child, Veda climbs a stepladder in the temple to reach up and trace the dancers' feet carved into granite with her fingertips. Shiva's the god of dance and creator of universes, and a priest teaches Veda to "feel Shiva's feet moving" inside her chest, as her heartbeat. Years later, as a teen, she wins a Bharatanatyam dance competition and relishes the applause. Then a van accident leads to the amputation of her right leg below the knee. Venkatraman weaves together several themes so elegantly that they become one: Veda's bodily exertion, learning to dance with her prosthetic leg; her process of changing her dance technique to be emotional and spiritual as well as physical; and all the rest of Veda's life, including young love, grief, insecurity and a dawning awareness of class issues. The fluid first-person verse uses figurative speech sparingly, so when it appears—"A bucket of gold melting from the sky"—it packs a punch. Veda's no disabled saint; awkwardness and jealousy receive spot-on portrayals as she works to incorporate Hinduism and Buddhism, life experience and emotion into her dancing. When she does, her achievement is about being centered, not receiving accolades. A beautiful integration of art, religion, compassion and connection. (author's note) (Verse fiction. 13-17)
