February 15, 2020
When 9-year-old Nina Soni tries to fix her little sister's quirkiness, she learns an important lesson about being yourself. Kavita is weird. She makes up nonsensical songs, spontaneously dances in public, and innocently tells family secrets--like how Nina once turned her stomach yellow by putting turmeric on it as a tummy-ache cure. When Nina's best friend, Jay (who is biracial, with a white dad and Indian mom), invites Nina's family to stay at his family's cabin for spring break, Nina is worried that Kavita's weirdness will spoil the whole trip. She decides to correct her sister's weirdest quality--her tendency to break into song--in the three days leading up to vacation. But to effect her plan, Nina starts doing some pretty weird things herself, like making a beaver dam over her neighbor's storm drain. It makes Nina realize that Kavita isn't the only weird one--and that maybe, weirdness is something to celebrate. As in series opener Nina Soni, Former Best Friend (2019), Sheth's clear and distinctive narratorial voice effortlessly leads readers through the intricacies of Nina's quirky, innocent world. At times, the plot seems to wander, but the various threads tie together beautifully at the end, creating a satisfying and believable character arc. The children's Indian heritage is cleverly woven into the storyline, infusing their lives without eclipsing their American identities. A fast-paced story that, despite its life lesson, never feels preachy. (Fiction. 7-10)
COPYRIGHT(2020) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
February 15, 2020
Grades 2-5 Though her little sister, Kavita, loves making up songs and singing them loudly, Nina finds these ditties distracting, exasperating, and embarrassing, particularly when the girls are in public. While she hopes to reform Kavita, her plan falls apart. First, she lands in trouble after building a dam around a storm drain and nearly flooding a neighbor's basement. Next, she discovers that Kavita's singing is contagious and fun. And in the end, Nina stops obsessing about her sister's quirks after realizing that everyone is a little weird, including herself. Line drawings illustrate the characters as well as story elements such as the storm drain. In this sequel to Nina Soni, Former Best Friend (2019), Nina is well intentioned, organized, and unafraid to carry out a brilliant idea, but she's realistically immobilized when she realizes that her actions might backfire. As in the previous book, Nina's appealing first-person narrative includes lists, which she uses to organize her thoughts, and definitions of words that interest her, but it's her lively personality and refreshing candor that will endear her to readers.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)