Looking for Bapu

by Anjali Banerjee

Book Overview

Anu's beloved grandfather Bapu moved from India to Anu's home in the Pacific Northwest when Anu was small, and Anu is devastated when Bapu dies. But when he is visited by Bapu's ghost, he knows that... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553494252
• ISBN13: 9780553494259
• Release Date: August 2008
• Publisher: Yearling
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.5" x 0.5" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Grief and homor

I don't know where I found Looking for Bapu the first time. The cover is absolutely beautiful, but I knew nothing about the story (in fact, I'll admit, I wasn't even sure what a Bapu was). I joined the South Asian Author Challenge knowing that I wanted to read more books written by and about South Asian people, so somewhere in my research for books I found this delightful MG novel about Anu, an 8-year-old boy whose grandfather (bapu) has a massive stroke a few weeks after September 11. Looking for Bapu is a masterful combination of grief and humor that transcends ages to be, not only a delightful novel, but also a resource for children as well as adults. Anu, with the help of his friends Unger, Izzy and Andy does everything he can think of to bring Bapu back. Anu prays to the gods, tries to become a holy man and visits a fortune teller, but of course, nothing really works. Anyone who has lost someone suddenly can understand Anu; reading this book brought me right back to when I lost my own grandmother and all the strange things I did right after. This novel does wonders to express the universality of grief and loss, without ever losing sight of Anu's unique experience. This novel subtly handles many aspects of being a young child, of feeling powerless and curious and silly. Anu deals with racism, being called Osama Bin Laden by one of his classmates, but finds that most people are just as confused and scared as he is. Andy, one of Anu's classmates, has cancer and there is a really wonderful scene between the two boys. Izzy and Unger are perfect friends, bringing quirkiness and warmth to the story. Ultimately, grief is universal, and that is the point of Looking for Bapu. There are many types of grief here: from the grief of adults (Anu's parents), childhood grief, living with a life-threatening illness, but also the collective grief we felt as a country after 9/11. But still, within all that sadness, there still has to be laughter, happiness and joy.

Charming

I gave this book to my daughter when she was nine and she really enjoyed it. Banerjee takes a situation that many kids experience (the death of a grandparent) and weaves it into a hopeful and often witty story of self-discovery, with an Indian flavor. Highly recommended.

Wonderful read for adults and teenagers

I received this book by accident, and am so glad I did. The story is very well written, magical and heartbreaking. The characters are so real, and the pain of the family in the loss of the grandfather (no, not giving away anything here) is tender and heartfelt.

A delightful story of cross-cultural interaction evolves.

Anjoli Banerjee's LOOKING FOR BAPU tells of an Indian grandfather who's brought India's culture to grandson Anu who lives in the Pacific Northwest. Anu is lost - until he decides to search for his grandfather's spirit and enlists in loyal friends to help bring back his beloved grandfather. A delightful story of cross-cultural interaction evolves.

Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying, planning and dreaming

I'm forever attempting to sniff out interesting trends in children's fiction. This year, the trend seems to be hinging on how children's books respond to a post-9/11 world. We've seen stories where characters' parents are sent to Iraq ("The Homework Machine" by Dan Gutman) and stories that take a critical stance against McCarthyism in the past ("The Loud Silence of Francine Green", by Karen Cushman). What we haven't seen much of, however, was a point of view that wasn't whitey white white. Now we have, "Looking For Bapu", and all that has changed. In a story that takes place mere days and weeks after the World Trade Towers collapsed, author Anjali Banerjee brings us the kind of book that we need a helluva lot more of in our libraries and bookstores. A well-written tale from the point of view of a kid who isn't WASPy. Apu and his grandfather Bapu have always been especially close. Ever since Bapu immigrated to America from his native India the two have been like peas in a pod. Imagine the eight-year-old boy's horror, then, when Bapu has a stroke right in front of his eyes while the two are watching for birds. Anu is beyond distraught. He keeps having little visions of his grandfather watching over him. By this Anu believes that Bapu doesn't want to leave, so he's going to do everything in his power to bring him back. This might mean becoming a holy roller or an enlightened being. It might mean employing the help of his friends Izzy (a homeschooler) and Unger (money-obsessed). Whatever it means, Anu is going to find an answer to his dilemma, and he's going to do so in the way that works best for him, be it magic, evoking the gods, or shaving off all his hair before class pictures. Banerjee is particularly good at finding the little moments in a book and synthesizing them into meaningful turns of phrase. For example, at one point in this story Anu and his father are waiting at the airport for a relative to arrive. While there they discuss how people like Sikhs have been persecuted by the ignorant people who think that they're Muslims. The Sikh they speak with is told by a woman that to wear his turban after 9/11 is, "very brave". This leads Anu to think, "Is it brave to be what you are, I wonder? Brave to just be yourself?". Kids will find no easy answers in this book. Just questions that are well worth the asking. The fact that the hero in this book was eight-years-old was a mighty interesting stylistic choice on the part of the author. Because of its reading level, this book is probably not going to be read by many eight-year-olds. It'll be read by ten to twelve-year-olds who would normally not find themselves with a protagonist of such young years. I wondered to myself why Banerjee made Anu as young as she did. Heck, he apparently still believes in Santa Claus! Perhaps she felt that a child any older would not feel the pain of losing a beloved older relative quite as keenly. Maybe she thought Apu's wild let's-bring-my-grandfather-back-from-the