Saraswati's Way

Publishers Weekly

Twelve-year-old Akash, a math whiz living in rural India, longs to stay in school and win a scholarship so that he can go to school in the city. But for that to happen he needs a tutor, and his family of farmers already faces terrible debt. When Akash's father, his only living parent, dies, his grandmother gives Akash to a moneylender to do slave labor in his quarry. Quickly realizing that he will never pay off his family's debt working there and unwilling to return to the family that sent him away, Akash escapes and makes his way to Delhi, where he struggles to find income to support his dream. He befriends the kind owner of a newspaper stand, but his desperation to find a tutor leads to a stint dealing drugs. Schröder's (The Dog in the Wood) well-paced novel is filled with details about life on the streets of Delhi and the influence of Akash's Hindu faith. If Akash's single-mindedness in his goal makes him a bit one-dimensional, his thoughtfulness and determination should inspire those who have it much easier. Ages 10–14. (Nov.)

From the Publisher

Praise for Saraswati's Way and Monika Schröder:

 

I read Sarswati’s Way in one gulp! Akash's story is compelling because of Akash himself: a beautifully-drawn boy who is by turns bewildered and resourceful; naive and clever; discouraged and determined. I ached for him and cheered him on and will long remember him.—Linda Sue Park, author of Newberry Medal Winner A Single Shard

 

Saraswati’s Way rings with important truths: that cultural difference fascinates us into seeing the world from new perspectives while the universality of human experience touches us into embracing other ways of being; that knowledge of right and wrong are the same everywhere.  I love everything about this book.  Its depictions of a dusty Indian village, an exotic Indian festival, fantastical stories of Hindu deities, and a boy’s fascination with the mysticism of numbers are truths unto themselves. —Suzanne Fisher Staples, Newberry Honor author of Under the Persimmon Tree

Monika Schroder gives a vivid picture of India and its street children in this powerful story of Akash, a twelve-year-old boy, who knows what he wants.  He risks his life and his beliefs until he discovers Saraswati’s way.  This is a compelling tale of today’s India from someone who knows it well.— Gloria Whelan, author of the National Book Award Winner Homeless Bird

Saraswati’s Way is fascinating and exotic, while at the same time immediate and accessible. Like its protagonist, the book is clear-eyed and open-hearted, and filled with hope. And it even makes a fine case for the pleasures of math! I was transported. Monika Schröder is a writer worth reading. — Paul Zelinsky, author/illustrator of the Caldecott Medal Book Rapunzel

Saraswati’s Way takes us into the world of a smart child hindered in his desire for an education by poverty and culture in today's India.  Monika Schröder leads us through this unfamiliar world with the deft hands of an expert Cicero, so that we accept Hindu practices, child labor, and drug dealing as givens, not to be gawked at, but to be comprehended as we gain entrance into a very real child's psyche. She doesn't pull punches.  This is a book to be respected and treasured. — Donna Jo Napoli, author of The Wager

“Set in a rural Indian village as well as the bustling train station and streets of New Delhi, this novel provides young learners with a glimpse of what it could take for an orphaned and unwanted child to survive in the most challenging of circumstances. A relatively gentle tone helps to introduce middle grade readers to issues associated with child poverty and child labor that they may otherwise not read much about.” –EconKids

Children's Literature - Uma Krishnaswami

Writing a culturally grounded novel for young readers poses special challenges. This is especially true when the writer does not belong to the selected setting. Too often, when the place is the complex cultural swirl that is South Asia, plot options turn to contrivances driven by the writer's perspective. Solutions may arise from a tidily placed foreigner who rescues the unfortunate protagonist, as in Shirley Arora's What Then, Raman? and more recently, Patricia McCormick's otherwise eloquent Sold. More disconcertingly, the impressionistic effect of the place itself on the page can sometimes be that of a tourist video (e.g., in Gloria Whelan's Homeless Bird). In clear contrast, Monika Schroder has approached the challenges of this outsider narrative with far less agenda, and armed with two main requisites of good writing: a keen eye and an acute sense for the heart of her twelve-year-old protagonist, Akash. Young Akash has always loved numbers. But a poor boy like him is hardly merits an education, especially now that his father has died and his family is burdened by a drug-addicted gambler of an uncle. When his unfeeling grandmother sends Akash to the rock quarry to work, he knows he must turn his back on everything he knew to be his world, and head to the city to pursue his dreams. His ensuing life as a rag picker on Delhi's rough streets is chronicled with care, until the moment he begins to find ways to realize the steps he must take. The brutality is undiluted, yet enough of the threat is implied or subtly drawn that this book will work for middle grade readers. There is generosity and affection as well among the band of children, and ultimately in the elderly newspaper vendor and other adult allies who see something special in this boy. The storyline weaves in the Hindu calendar of festivals and religious observances. Through the influence of a kindly village teacher, the book also introduces concepts from Vedic mathematics, an ancient system teaching clever mental practices and calculation shortcuts. Much more than an unsentimental look at India's realities, this is a story that honors the yearnings of children, and seeks to bring a hopeful vision to a multi-layered, often self-contradictory place. Pair with Boys Without Names by Kashmira Sheth for an insider narrative depicting a child protagonist in similar circumstances. Reviewer: Uma Krishnaswami

School Library Journal

Gr 5–7—With his talent for math, 12-year-old Akash dreams of escaping his dreary existence by winning a school scholarship. He and his widowed father, Bapu, eke out a precarious existence with their extended family in rural Rajasthan, a drought-plagued region of India. After Bapu's death, Akash is sent to a quarry to work off his family's insurmountable debt. He runs away and ends up living in the New Dehli train station. He forages through trash heaps to find food, joins a group of homeless children, and moves from one perilous situation to the next. In one of the most harrowing episodes, he and a friend sell drugs for a dangerous drug lord. Akash's story is involving, yet the fast-paced plot outpaces character development, and the hopeful ending arrives abruptly. In an author's note, Schröder briefly describes the plight of street children in India; she also adds interest with references to Vedic math and Hindu gods. Despite its good intentions, Akash's story remains too thinly sketched to be memorable.—Marilyn Taniguchi, Beverly Hills Public Library, CA

Kirkus Reviews

Akash, in his seventh and last year of education in India, has a gift for math, finding patterns in numbers by using Vedic math, an ancient system of Indian mathematics. The Hindu boy prays to Saraswati, goddess of wisdom and knowledge, to help him raise money to hire a tutor and win a scholarship, but when the monsoon fails to bring rain to his family's crops and his father dies unexpectedly, he is forced to work in their landlord's quarry. Quickly realizing that he will never pay off the debt, Akash runs away to New Delhi, where his experiences give an authentically gritty portrait of life on the streets. Homeless and hungry, he follows a group of boys, some sniffing correction fluid to forget their troubles, others gambling and dealing drugs. With the help of a kind newspaper seller, Akash realizes that Saraswati will only help him if he deserves it. Although most runaways' lives turn tragic, the author mercifully offers a hopeful ending. This rare combination of math and culture is a boon for discussions and makes this stand out. (author's note, glossary) (Fiction. 10-14)