CRITICAL BOOK REVIEW 1

Same Sun Here: House, S., & Vaswani, N. (2013). Same sun here. Candlewick Press.

The setting is present day with scenes from New York City and a small coal-mining town in eastern Kentucky. There are also flashback scenes throughout the novel.

MAin Characters:

MEENA: 12 YEAR OLD GIRL ORIGINALLY FROM INDIA WHO LIVES WITH HER MOM AND BROTHER IN NEW YORK CITY. SHE IS PASSIONATE ABOUT SOCIAL JUSTICE AND IS VERY CURIOUS AND IMAGINATIVE.
River: 10 year old boy who lives with his grandmother in eastern Kentucky. He is a white American boy who is outdoorsy. He is also very passionate about social justice and the environment.

PLOT:

• The novel begins with Meena and River exchanging their first letters, where they introduce themselves and share their interests and passions. As they continue to write to each other, Meena and River share their experiences and struggles with each other, despite the distance between them. As they learn more about each other's lives, Meena and River also become more aware of the social and environmental issues affecting each of their communities.

ANALYSIS 1

• Both meena and river give examples of stereotypes they have had to deal with because of where they come from. Meena expresses her frustration about a time where her and her brother were called terrorists because of her race.

River experienced stereotyping because of his geographic locale. Since he is from the south, people often think he must be a dumb “hillbilly”. Because of this stereotype his grandma tries extra hard to help him be grammatically correct to reduce the potential of him being called dumb.

One final example of the impact of culture on meena comes from within the classroom setting. In India it is no common for women to have shaved legs, especially since they typically cover their entire legs. In school, she got made fun of for having hair on her legs. This caused her to go home upset and confide in her brother who taught her how to shave.

ANALYSIS 2

• I feel like I am able to relate with both meena and River. I grew up in a rural community and went to a school where people seemed very closed minded so when river got in trouble for bringing up something he was passionate for, I felt like I could connect to him. Unfortunately I was always afraid to stand up to my teachers, but I can relate to feeling like I don’t fit in in that capacity.

With Meena, I relate to the idea that she went from living in a beautiful area with people like her to having to learn a completely new culture than what she knew. When I was little we moved from New Mexico where there were mountains as well as more culturally diverse people. When I moved to Kansas, I realized how narrow of a view living in a small town with very little diversity can make a person become. I spent many years feeling like an outsider since I was not originally from my small town.

ANALYSIS 3

• This book has examples of good and bad teachers. Meena has a wonderful teacher who really pours into meena. She feels comfortable asking her questions and seeking deeper knowledge, even if it is not in the subject area her teacher covers: “even though she is an English teacher, I think she will do it, because she is someone who cares when bad things happen— not just to herself but also to people she has never ever met”(75).

River however has an example of an awful teacher. He refers to her as being “snobby”. When he asks important questions she dismisses him and belittles him. When he stands up for what he believes is right she scolds him and sends him away. She also refuses to take responsibility and expresses her dislike for him to other teachers in front of him: “during my chorus class Mrs. Heap came in and whispered something in the ear of my teacher, Mrs. Greer, and then they both looked right at me. They are real good friends, so Mrs. Heap was probably in there telling her to give me a hard time ”(71).

ANALYSIS 4

• It has touched base on the many aspects of culture— where you are from, customs and traditions, religion, food, socioeconomic status all of which we were able to discuss further during our first class where we shared or experience of different aspects of culture and diversity.

This book also does a wonderful job and showing intersectionality. Meena and Forrest, even though they come from very different backgrounds, find things that Make them similar. They are both very much passionate about fighting for what is right. In class we were superheated into groups based on different details that we have in common such as travel or sports. Though we all come from different backgrounds, we can still find some common ground.