Abby Spencer Goes to Bollywood

January 13, 2014
Abby Spencer, 13, is thrown for a loop when she learns that her estranged father is actually a Bollywood heartthrob, Naveen Kumar. Naveen is equally shocked to hear that he has a daughter (he never saw a letter Abby’s mother sent when she was pregnant), and he invites Abby to visit him in Mumbai. Picture book author Bajaj’s (T Is for Taj Mahal) first middle-grade novel conveys Abby’s mixed emotions about meeting her father, getting her first taste of celebrity, and visiting India, though not always believably (“The muddy color of poverty was interspersed by the bright blue color of tarpaulin people used to keep the rain out,” reflects Abby about Mumbai’s slums). Information about India is laced throughout the story, and although the father/daughter reunion is slightly canned and the dialogue sometimes difficult to swallow (“At first, the hurt and the feeling of rejection felt like shackles that I could never break free,” Abby’s mother says of her failed romance with Naveen), Abby’s extravagant travels and first romance are enough to satisfy and amuse. Ages 9–13. Agent: Jill Corcoran, Jill Corcoran Literary Agency.

February 1, 2014
Thirteen-year-old Abby Spencer learns that the father she's never met is a Bollywood superstar and travels from Houston to Mumbai to meet him. Abby has been stonewalled by her pie-shop-owning single mother when she's asked about her dad, but hereditary concerns about a bad allergic reaction bring the matter to a head. Rather incredibly, Abby's father, Naveen Kumar--a really nice guy who just happens to be the Brad Pitt of India--immediately accepts the situation and invites her to come to Mumbai to meet him and his loving but ailing mother. Besides the establishment of the likable Abby's mostly smooth relationship with Kumar's household and entourage, the rest of the story involves Abby's reaction to India, her nascent romantic relationship with handsome Shaan and her difficulty remaining mum about the fact that she's Kumar's daughter. Unfortunately, nice is great in a girlfriend, but for characters in a novel, spice is necessary, and there's not enough of it in Bajaj's pleasant but bland first-person cross-cultural tale. Nevertheless, readers will want for Abby what she wants for herself--to find her place in her two families--and should be touched and satisfied by the story's ending. Culturally intriguing but dramatically dry, this story showcases the glamour and grit of Mumbai and gives readers an entertaining glimpse of backstage Bollywood. (Fiction. 9-13)

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April 1, 2014

Gr 5-8-Thirteen-year-old Abby Spencer longs for excitement in her happy but uneventful life as a middle schooler in Houston, Texas. After she has a severe allergic reaction to coconut, Abby finds the excitement for which she has been waiting. Needing details about Abby's inherited medical history, her mother contacts the girl's father for the first time in more than 13 years. Soon after, Abby finds herself traveling to India on a whirlwind trip to meet him-a Bollywood film star-for the first time. If not for the Indian setting, Abby Spencer would be a typical, cute-but-nothing-special story of a young girl meeting her estranged father. Abby is a sweet, relatable character, but it's the lush backdrop that sets this book apart. The narrator describes the beauty and the extreme poverty of Mumbai. She feeds beggars and street dogs and reflects on her own day-to-day luxuries in comparison. She learns some Hindi words and phrases, tastes Indian foods, and spends a day on a Bollywood film set. A light, clean romance adds a second plot thread, but this story is mainly about the teen's exploration of her Indian heritage and the relationships between Abby and her parents. Pair with Narinder Dhami's Bollywood Babes (Random, 2006) or Kashmira Sheth's Boys Without Names (HarperCollins, 2010).-Leigh Collazo, Ed Willkie Middle School, Fort Worth, TX

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2014
Lifelong Texan Abby Spencer, thirteen, had no idea that her absent father is a Bollywood movie star--and none of his millions of adoring fans know he has a daughter. When she departs for Mumbai to finally meet him, Abby doesn't know what she's getting into. The mostly lighthearted plot holds few surprises, but Mumbai's beauty--and poverty--are creditably developed.

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