River and Meena are matched as pen pals when they both select the snail mail option during a school project. Their lives couldn't be more different. Or could they? Meena has recently moved to the United States from India and lives in New York City with her family in a rent-controlled apartment. River comes from a long line of Kentucky coal miners and lives with his activist grandma and depressed mom in the Appalachian Mountains. As different as their lives are, both River and Meena have special connections with their grandmothers and a keen eye for observing the world around them. Meena's drawings, of New York and the home that she left behind in India, and River's poetic descriptions of the mountains of Kentucky, bridge the cultural gap between these two kindred sprits. When River's community faces the fallout from destructive mountaintop removal mining and Meena suffers the loss of her grandmother and her home, their letters become a source of strength and optimism. Written by two authors, this novel presents two compelling voices that insist that our similarities are greater than any differences and that even the smallest actions can have an impact.
If you loved this, you'll like:
Klise, Kate M and Sarah Klise. Regarding the Fountain: a Tale in Letters, of Liars and Leaks. HarperCollins, 1998.Sullivan, Mary. Dear Blue Sky. Nancy Paulsen, 2012.
If you loved this, you'll like:
Klise, Kate M and Sarah Klise. Regarding the Fountain: a Tale in Letters, of Liars and Leaks. HarperCollins, 1998.Sullivan, Mary. Dear Blue Sky. Nancy Paulsen, 2012.