Kashmira Sheth – författare

Trapped. For eleven-year-old Gopal and his family, life in their rural Indian village is over: We stay, we starve, his baba has warned. They flee to the big city of Mumbai in hopes of finding work and a brighter future. Gopal is eager to help support his struggling family, so when a stranger approaches him with the promise of a factory job, he jumps at the offer. ?But there is no factory, just a stuffy sweatshop where he and five other boys are forced to work for no money and little food. The boys are forbidden to talk or even to call one another by their real names. Locked away in a rundown building, Gopal despairs of ever seeing his family again. But late one night, when Gopal decides to share kahanis, or stories, he realizes that storytelling might be the boys' key to survival. If he can make them feel more like brothers than enemies, their lives will be more bearable in the shop-and they might even find a way to escape.

Author Kashmira Sheth provides young readers with a unique view of Indian culture and tradition through this affectionate, sensitive portrait of a grandmother and her American granddaughter. Hindu words defined and sprinkled throughout the text further add to the authenticity of the story.

No matter where you started,leaving was hard - so was the journey.And when you finally reached safety,you were hungry, thirsty, worn-out.Ready for rest.Taking Flight offers an intimate look at being a refugee by following three different children. From the mountains of Tibet, the cotton fields in Syria, and a city in Ukraine, families pack their bags and say goodbye to their homes as they leave in search of safety. Although they don’t know what the future holds - maybe an extended time in a refugee camp or a long journey to a place with a new language - they hope that it will be a place they can call home.Told in second person, directly addressing a displaced child, and with deeply evocative illustrations from Nicolò Carozzi, Taking Flight is a timely and necessary story that offers gentle reassurance and hope for readers.