Reviewed by Tasha for TeensReadToo.com
When Anila Tandy's guardians, the Hickeys, decide to leave Calcutta, they beg her to accompany them, but she stubbornly refuses to come so that just in case her long-gone father returns as he promised many years ago, she'll be there.
Miss Hickey then sets her up with everything she'll need to survive by herself. Most importantly, she finds Anila a job as a bird painter on an expedition up the Ganges River.
As the days go by and she discovers new birds, she also reflects on her past. How life was like when her mother was still alive and her father was still around, or remembering the stories her mother used to tell. Along the journey, Anila also finds herself and grows up.
ANILA'S JOURNEY was a well-written historical story. The re-creation of historic India was fascinating and I enjoyed learning more about the older Indian culture. I thought that it was really interesting how Mary Finn alternated the chapters by telling what Anila was experiencing at the present and then stories about Anila's past - and then bringing them together in the end.
Anila herself was an interesting character who really grew up throughout the novel and became her true self. I loved all of the culture references and felt like I learned quite a bit. At times, the book got dry and I found that it was hard to keep reading, but then it would get better over time. Overall, I really did enjoy the book.
When Anila Tandy's guardians, the Hickeys, decide to leave Calcutta, they beg her to accompany them, but she stubbornly refuses to come so that just in case her long-gone father returns as he promised many years ago, she'll be there.
Miss Hickey then sets her up with everything she'll need to survive by herself. Most importantly, she finds Anila a job as a bird painter on an expedition up the Ganges River.
As the days go by and she discovers new birds, she also reflects on her past. How life was like when her mother was still alive and her father was still around, or remembering the stories her mother used to tell. Along the journey, Anila also finds herself and grows up.
ANILA'S JOURNEY was a well-written historical story. The re-creation of historic India was fascinating and I enjoyed learning more about the older Indian culture. I thought that it was really interesting how Mary Finn alternated the chapters by telling what Anila was experiencing at the present and then stories about Anila's past - and then bringing them together in the end.
Anila herself was an interesting character who really grew up throughout the novel and became her true self. I loved all of the culture references and felt like I learned quite a bit. At times, the book got dry and I found that it was hard to keep reading, but then it would get better over time. Overall, I really did enjoy the book.
Set in the late 1700s in colonial India, this YA historical novel is told through the eyes of a teen-aged girl, whose Indian mother is dead, and Irish father disappeared. Because of her ability as an artist, Anila is able to get a job accompanying an English naturalist on his quest on the Ganges River for unknown bird species while she tries to find out where her father might be.
There is a lot depicted about the Indian attitude towards women, and the attitude of the British overlords to the Indian people as a whole and Indian women in particular. There are no graphic sexual scenes, but sex without marriage is rife.
There is a lot depicted about the Indian attitude towards women, and the attitude of the British overlords to the Indian people as a whole and Indian women in particular. There are no graphic sexual scenes, but sex without marriage is rife.
