A review by emilyinherhead
Ahimsa by Supriya Kelkar

4.0

This beautifully written story of Anjali, a 10-year-old in India during the freedom movement of the 1940s, taught me a lot, even though it was intended for a middle grade audience. Kelkar explains not only the Indian struggle for liberation from British rule, but also the internal conflict around the caste system; she paints Gandhi not as the unequivocally pure and good teacher of nonviolence in the face of adversity that some of us were taught about in school, but as a complicated and multifaceted figure who did a lot of important work but also held some problematic ideas of his own. My knowledge of this time period in Indian history was previously limited to the little I'd picked up in middle and high school, much of which I've forgotten by this point, so Anjali's story was an enjoyable, heartwarming, and informative refresher. A great choice either to pick up yourself or to give to the young readers in your life.

(Read Harder challenge #22: A children’s or middle grade book—not YA—that has won a diversity award since 2009)