I Am Kavi

Caught between two worldsa poverty-stricken village and a fancy big-city schoola young Sri Lankan girl must decide who she really is and where she really belongs.1998, Colombo. The Sri Lankan Civil War is raging, but everyday life must go on. At Kavis school, her friends talk about the weekly Top 40, the Backstreet Boys, Shahrukh Khan, Leo & Kate… and who diedor didntin the latest bombing. But Kavi is afraid of something even scarier than war. She fears that if her friends discover her secretthat she is not who she is pretending to betheyll stop talking to her.I want to be friends with these / happy, / fearless, / girls / who look like they / belong.So I could also be / happy, / fearless, / and maybe even / belong.Kavis scholarship to her elite new school was supposed to be everything she ever wanted, but as she tries to find some semblance of normalcy in a country on fire, nothing is going according to plan. In an effort to fit in with her wealthy, glittering, and self-assured new classmates, Kavi begins telling lies, trading her old lifewhere shes a poor girl whose mother has chosen a new husband over her daughterfor a new one, where shes rich, loved, and wanted. But how long can you pretend to be someone else?This dazzling novel-in-verse comes from an astonishing new talent who lived through the civil war herself. Perfect for fans of Jamine Warga, Supriya Kelkar, and Rajani LaRocca, I Am Kavi centers a powerful South Asian voice, and stars an unforgettable heroine each and every one of us can relate to. "KAVI''S COURAGE AND VOICE ARE NOT TO BE MISSED."Reem Faruqi, award-winning author of Call Me Adnan, Unsettled, and Golden Girl"TRIUMPHANT."Dan Gemeinhart, #1 NYT bestselling author of The Midnight Children "I LOVED IT!"Nizrana Farook, award-winning author of The Girl Who Stole an ElephantA Junior Library Guild Gold Standard SelectionAn Indies Introduce SelectionAn Indies Next PickA Bank Street Best Children''s Book of the YearA School Library Journal Middle Grade Magic SelectionA Children''s Book Council Hot off the Presses SelectionA Bank Street Best Children''s Book of the Year - Outstanding Merit