Shine, Coconut Moon - Hardcover

Meminger, Neesha

3.62

449 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1416954953 ISBN 13: 9781416954958

Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry Books, 2009

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Seventeen-year-old Samar -- a.k.a. Sam -- has never known much about her Indian heritage. Her mom has deliberately kept Sam away from her old-fashioned family. It's never bothered Sam, who is busy with school, friends, and a really cute but demanding boyfriend.

But things change after 9/11. A guy in a turban shows up at Sam's house, and he turns out to be her uncle. He wants to reconcile the family and teach Sam about her Sikh heritage. Sam isn't sure what to do, until a girl at school calls her a coconut -- brown on the outside, white on the inside. That decides it: Why shouldn't Sam get to know her family? What is her mom so afraid of? Then some boys attack her uncle, shouting, "Go back home, Osama!" and Sam realizes she could be in danger -- and also discovers how dangerous ignorance can be. Sam will need all her smarts and savvy to try to bridge two worlds and make them both her own.

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About the Author:

Neesha Meminger was born in Punjab, India, at the tail end of the 1960s, and grew up in Toronto, Canada. She currently lives in New York City, where she and her husband spend most days being ignored by a seven-year-old Leo and a four-year-old Aries. This is her first novel. Visit Neesha's website atneeshameminger.com.

From Booklist:

Samar (aka Sam) considers herself just a regular teenage girl, even though she is Indian American. Her mother has kept her away from her old-fashioned, very strict family, and she never has identified with her Indian heritage. None of this has ever bothered her, aside from the fact that she longs for a large family like her best friend’s instead of just herself and her mom. One day, shortly after 9/11, a man wearing a turban shows up on her doorstep. He is her estranged uncle, and through him, Sam begins to realize how important being Indian American is to her identity. This novel is especially poignant as our country continues to deal with prejudice against Southeast Asians and individuals from the Middle East. Readers will be drawn in to Sam’s story and her struggles to make sense of and combine her two cultures. This admirably explores identity and difference through the voice of a girl who thinks she is a typical teenager. Grades 7-10. --Melanie Koss

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