Nina Soni Former Best Friend was selected as 2020 Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books for the Year list

The second book, Nina Soni, Sister Fixer is here!

In Nina Soni, Sister Fixer, Nina is convinced that she must try to alter Kavita’s embarrassing behavior. On a rainy spring break, Nina sets out to do two projects, fix her sister and work with her sister on a grand engineering project. This leads to some complicated and sometimes humorous situations and Nina must find her way out of them. Even though Nina is unsuccessful in her endeavor to change her sister, she is not disappointed as she gains important insights about herself, family, and community.

Here are a couple of reviews:

“Sheth’s clear and distinctive narratorial voice effortlessly leads readers through the intricacies of Nina’s quirky, innocent world…. The children’s Indian heritage is cleverly woven into the storyline, infusing their lives without eclipsing their American identities.” —Kirkus Reviews
“As in the previous book, Nina’s appealing first-person narrative includes lists, which she uses to organize her thoughts, and definitions of words that interest her, but it’s her lively personality and refreshing candor that will endear her to readers.” —Booklist

For more than a year, my eight-year-old granddaughter has been swept away in reading chapter books. She has always been a strong reader so this was to be expected. What I didn’t realize was how much she would be consumed by novels.  After finishing one book, she can’t wait to start the next one in a series and when she is in the middle of the book, it is difficult to get her attention. Recently, she introduced me to the Emily Windsnap series by Liz Kessler.

When one of my daughters was young, her third-grade teacher got her interested in books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. I remember her reading Farmer Boy and laughing. There is nothing like a child reading a book and suddenly bursting out laughing. As a first-generation Immigrant, I didn’t know much about children’s literature until my children exposed me to old classics as well as to new books. I read all those books with them, too. They inspired me to write my first book, Blue Jasmine.

Last year, a parent at a conference was worried that her son likes to read and reread Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney.  A fellow author and I told the mother not to worry. Her son was enjoying the books and subtly picking up many important aspects of what makes those books so appealing to him and other kids, including how humor is delivered.  His love of those books was not a bad thing and eventually he would seek other novels.