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Gr 4-7 Anand's compassionate gesture of sharing his tea with an old man in a Calcutta market leads to radical changes in the 12-year-old's life. The stranger is a member of the Brotherhood of Healers and invites the boy to join him on a dangerous journey to return a magical conch shell to its proper home in the far-off Himalayas. Along with Nisha, a sweeper-girl who insists on joining them, Anand and Abhaydatta travel to the mountains pursued by the evil Surabhanu, a power-hungry ex-member of the brotherhoo...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

Twelve-year-old Anand has been the man of the household since his father left two years ago to find a job—then disappeared. A hard- working, underappreciated servant for a tea stall owner in Kolkata, Anand dreams constantly about magic. His kindness toward an old man serves as catalyst to shift this novel from reality to fantasy. With precise language that respectfully evokes an Indian setting both mundane and mysterious, Divakaruni moves us from th...Log In or Sign Up to Read More