Savi and the Memory Keeper

this was a beautifully done climate change book, it had a great concept and it did everything that I was hoping for. Bijal Vachharajani has a great writing style that I enjoyed a lot. The plot worked well overall and it had everything that I was looking for, and the characters worked with the story. I enjoyed the magic elements going on and it did everything that was promised.

"No, that’s ridiculous. This was my grief causing me to imagine strange things. I wondered if I should tell Meher, but she’d either laugh at me or show me some social media gyaan on grief or insist I see a therapist. Or maybe she wouldn’t even listen. Mom had enough on her plate. Anyway, what was I going to say? “Hey family, did you know, these plants and this one tree keep telling me all kinds of stuff?”"

When you are about to turn fourteen, you don't even need additional reasons for the entire world to hurt. But Savi has them in abundance: her father has just recently unexpectedly died of a heart attack, and then the remaining family moved from Delhi to the city of Shajarpur, which boasts a perfect climate and where everybody is disgustingly happy. In Shajarpur, weird things start happening to Savi, making her doubt her sanity: trying to keep her father's plants alive, she starts getting weird flashbacks about something the plants witnessed years ago, and the same occurs with the huge ficus tree that grows behind her new school. Savi at first relishes these memories as a connection to her father - but ultimately she reluctantly realizes she becomes a part of an ongoing battle...

As far as understand, the novel had previously been published on the Indian market and is now being prepared for the international audience. I wish there were more explanations for the Indian elements for the international reader!
I also found the depiction of time passage a bit wanting. I know, I know: it is hard to tell a story both on the scale of climate change and on the scale of the development of relationships with new schoolmates.
Moreover, I would say that the target audience is a bit younger than the protagonist herself - just based on how the main conflict is represented. That's not a drawback but something to keep in mind if you are looking to offer the book to a young reader.

Other than that, I totally loved how this book tackles even more than one major important issue and communicates with the young reader about them. One is grief and depression and coping with the loss. (Vachharajani uses a wonderful metaphor of "the purple frog on my heart"). Another, of course, is the topic of how humanity's pursuit of progress affects the environment and makes the planet a bit less liveable place. The novel is a good primer that may give some initial food for thought.

Thanks to Netgalley and Blackstone Publishing for the eARC. The opinion expressed above is fully my own.

This was a sweet and lovable story that felt like sunshine. If you want something to read to put a smile on your face, this is it. It's also a quick read too.