"Maya Running" is another youth book, though not in this year's Sasquatch list. I picked it up at a writer's conference I was attending because the author was there doing a book signing.
The book is a quick read; it concerns mostly the struggles of growing up as a cultural minority (in this case, as an Indian immigrant in Canada), but has a mythical plot as well. The protagonist is an adolescent girl struggling with finding herself and her place stuck between two cultures; its typical adolescent stuff (boys, friends, body image, parents, identity), but Anjali Banejee handles it with deft sensitivity and humor. The voice of the protagonist (also the narrator) is believable and real, and her struggles and perspectives seem very authentic and true-to-life. The mythical plot is, strangely, almost an afterthought: the girl wishes for a new self, basically, and is granted that wish by a statue of the Hindu god Ganesh. That plot - which is introduced late in the book, and wrapped up rather quickly - has a standard, rather unremarkable "be careful what you wish for" message and isn't terribly compelling. It isn't a book I would recommend as required reading (or required purchasing for school libraries), but it is well written and fits comfortably in the adolescent, coming-of-age genre of youth literature. Girls struggling with identity - especially those also dealing with a culture clash - will certainly identify with the narrator and enjoy seeing "their" story convincingly related. It's "good-not-great," but the right reader would be sure to love it.
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