" On the surface of this story, told through letters from the two main characters to one another, Meena and River might seem to have little in common. After all, Meena is an Indian immigrant girl who lives in Chinatown in New York City while River is the son on a Kentucky coal miner. From a school assignment requiring students to write their pen pals, the two get to know each other well and become friends, sharing secrets and dispelling assumptions each has about the other. Their voices are unique since there is one author for Meena and one for River. Meena's letters are filled with her own musings on city life as well as questions for River. River is more reticent, but he, too, is curious about the world outside his own small town. The questions the two have about each other's cultures are answered in a straight forward fashion with no resentment; rather, the two want to satisfy the other one's curiosity. Clearly, there are many issues in the lives of each youngster, and even the threat to the mountains where River lives is something that becomes important to Meena as well. Although there are quite a few coincidences near the end of the book, I still enjoyed watching the friendship form right in front of my eyes. I also liked the ink-and-pencil illustrations that occasionally appear in Meena's letters. "
— Barbara, 2/10/2014