Maya Running

MAYA RUNNING is now available in paperback. Order

Maya Running is recommended in the Bulletin’s Guide Book to Gift Books for 2007. Find the complete list here.

My debut coming-of-age novel is now available in hardcover from Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books. Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Books India, published Maya Running on the Indian subcontinent and in Singapore..

In my novel, MAYA RUNNING, Maya meets many relatives in India. These are my real aunts and great aunts in Kolkata. They are all accomplished scholars and teachers.

Synopsis
The small golden statue of the Hindu elephant god, Ganesh, hardly resembles an all-knowing Granter of Wishes. But Ganesh is more powerful than he looks, and he’s about to send a young girl on a magical adventure of self-discovery.

It’s 1978, and Maya Mukherjee is the only brown-skinned middle schooler in her tiny Manitoba town. Born in India and raised in the land of moose and snow, she feels neither Indian enough for Indians, nor Canadian enough for Canadians. She longs to fit in, and she yearns for Jamie Klassen, the local bad boy with the John Travolta strut.

Then Maya’s beautiful cousin Pinky arrives from India bearing the scent of sandalwood and her most coveted possession–the statue of Ganesh. When Pinky steals Jamie’s heart, Maya pleads with Ganesh to remove all obstacles to her dreams, a wish that backfires in hilarious and painful ways. She must journey across continents to find the truth, her culture, and herself.

MAYA RUNNING offers a fresh perspective on universal hopes and dreams, as narrated by an insightful girl with an irrepressible imagination.

Read the first chapter
Click here to read Chapter One of MAYA RUNNING.

Reviews of Maya Running
“Eloquently composed…insightfully written…Banerjee’s is a promising new voice …compelling and imaginative.”  – The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books
 
“Delightful…Perfect for multicultural collections.” – KLIATT
 
“Details of the cultures and everyday life of both India and Canada are integrated seamlessly…readers will see themselves in the realistic characters.” – School Library Journal
 
“Terrific, funny and inventive.” – Paula Danziger, late author of over 25 books for children

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