A magical middle grade adventure steeped in Indian folklore following a girl who learns how to find her voice and face her fears
Ten-year-old Geetanjali doesn’t mind singing, but she knows she will never be as good as her mother, Aai, or grandmother, Aaji, famous classical singers from India whose celebrity has followed the family all the way to their small town in Michigan, where Geetanjali lives with her mother and father, Baba.
After Geetanjali freezes while on stage during a concert performance, she adds “fear of singing” to her list of fears, a list that seems to be multiplying daily. While Aai tries to stress the importance of using one’s voice and continuing to sing, Geetanjali hopes that when her Aaji comes to visit this summer, she will be able to help her.
But when they pick up Aaji at the airport, she is not alone. Lata, an auntie whom Geetanjali has never met before, has come along, as well as their neighbor, Heena Auntie, who is acting strange and mean, not like the warm auntie she normally is.
Lata Auntie has heard all about Geetanjali’s family shile growing up in India. She knows Aai and Aaji are the only ones who can sing raag Naagshakti. Aai makes light of this, but Geetanjali thinks back to the raag in the binder that started with an N that had been torn out. She has never heard of raag Naagshakti, which sounds like it is about the power of cobras. What could that mean?
Geetanjali is determined not to let her imagination get the best of her to the point of adding aunties to her list of fears, but she can’t help but wonder about the connection between the missing raag, Heena Auntie’s cold behavior, and their interesting summer visitor.
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