Blue Jasmine

by Kashmira Sheth

When twelve-year-old Seema Trivedi learns that she and her family must move from their small Indian town to Iowa City, she realizes she'll have to say good-bye to the purple-jeweled mango trees and sweet-smelling jasmine, to the monsoon rains and the bustling market. More important, she must leave behind her best friend and cousin, Raju. Everything is different in Iowa City, where Seema feels like an outsider to the language and traditions. As she begins to plant roots in the foreign soil, however, her confidence starts to bloom, and she learns she can build a bridge between two homes. With lyrical language and poignant scenes, Kashmira Sheth unearths the meaning of "home" and "family" in this tender debut novel. Kashmira Sheth's own experiences as a teenager who moved by herself from India to America inspired her to write this novel. She is a microbiologist and lives with her family in Madison, Wisconsin.

Genres: Young Adult, Realistic Fiction, India, Middle Grade, Cultural, Childrens, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Kashmira Sheth grew up in Bhavangar, Gujarat, for eight years, when she was three she joined Montessori school. She lived with her grandparents, because her parents lived in Mumbai three hundred miles away from Bhavangar.
At eight years Sheth, left Bhavangar, for Mumbai.
She did her studying there until she was seventeen. She left Mumbai, to go to college, in Ames Iowa to do her BS at Iowa State University. Many people ask her why she chose Iowa. "I chose Iowa State, because my uncle worked there as a professor." is the answer.
She is the author of 7 books, two of them are picture books, called "My Dadima Wears a Sari." and "Monsoon Rains"

She has three books meant for teens.
The fist one is called "Blue Jasmine"; which is about a girl named Seema who moved from India to Iowa.
The second one is called; 'Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet'; this book is about a girl who is sixteen named Jeeta, her two sisters are married
and now its her turn. Trouble is she does not want an arranged marriage.
The last one and the most currents one is called, "Keeping Corner". This one is about a girl who is thirteen, named Leela, is widowed. She was married at age nine, and was about to be sent off to live with her husband. But her husband gets bitten by a venomous snake, and dies. Leela faces hardship, anger, and frustration. She is forced to shave her head, and never ever wear jewellery or colors. This takes place in the Gandhi era.
Sheth is publishing a book called "Boys Without Names." in 2010
Kashmira Sheth is now with her two daughters; Neha and Rupa, her husband in Madison Wisconsin.

Reviews

[carrietracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

There were many things I liked about this story, the story of coming from India to the United States, learning friendship with Mukta, trying to find a way to fit in - the way it shared some of her mother's struggles as well as Seema's own. Especially interesting is Seema's discovery of the shift in meaning between swastikas in India and their meaning in the US due to WWII and the Nazis.

I had a few problems with it though. The language of the book is easy enough for my more advanced third graders, but the book also contains a mild swear (the "h" word) which is largely unnecessary but makes the book less recommendable to young readers - no other themes are really too difficult for grades 3-6. Also, I felt the storyline about Seema and Carrie was far-fetched and a bit overly rosy towards the end. Life doesn't work out where the mean people turn out to be your good friends and since children learn from books and bring their own experiences to books, I think this will ring false with them, even if it is teaching a good lesson about being the better person, it's important to acknowledge that sometimes the only reward you get for that is actually being the better person.

[Matthew · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read this year. Simply put, every student should have to read this book and digest it and discuss it. The coming of age story, bullying and conflict resolution, family dynamics, the immigrant experience; it's all here. This book has so much to offer and should have been a Newberry award when it was published.

[Erin Reilly-Sanders · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I enjoyed my read of Blue Jasmine, I did't think it was especially good. Yes, the topic- immigrating from India to the midwest- is fascinating and since the author is telling a story similar to her own it is likely very authentic but I didn't think that the quality of the writing was that good. I though that the resolution with the instances of bullying in both India and the United States were unrealistic in their positive resolution. In some ways, the book also felt like a laundry list of differences between the two lives Seema participates in. These differences are often shown via stories rather than just description which is better but still seem a little overwhelming in comparison with the general plot line. In comparison to Inside Out and Back Again, a story about a girl immigrating from Vietnam, I don't think it's as good, particularly because Inside Out leaves some of the conflict with the community unresolved and that the form of novel in verse helped the author to limit what she could address rather than trying to fit it all in. I'm sure people will argue that the idealized resolution to bullying and friendship issues is a nice example for kids and I don't object with this view. My preference is simply for something a little more realistic. However, in the end, I think this book would make a good choice for classroom use, particularly because of the explicitness of the issues involved in immigration.

[Jennie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kashmira Sheth earned a Paul Zindel First Novel for this book on cultural differences and the experience of living in American as an immigrant. Seema’s feelings are very honest and realistic which gives the book authenticity. Also the lesson is very appropriate, Seema learns to be kinder to others when she receives her cruel treatment by her classmate Carrie. Sheth provides detailed descriptions filled with metaphors to help readers understand the plight of cross cultural experience. In addition Gujarati words are interspersed in the text and explained in context giving readers a taste of Indian culture.

Blue Jasmine is a very engaging and appealing book for older children and young adults. Seema’s character is dynamic and well fleshed out. Readers will be interested to hear about the education system in another culture. For instance Seema is embarrassed in class one day when she stands to address her teacher, as students do in India, rather than simply raising her hand. Also Seema notices differences in American diet. As a vegetarian, Seema is surprised to see a turkey being served at a Thanksgiving Day meal.

[Catherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the general plot of this book is interesting - Indian girl on the cusp of adolescence comes to the United States with her family, has to learn to live in a new culture - the execution was woefully lacking. The language is pitched far below that of a twelve year old; the dialogue is terribly artificial (no one actually talks the way that people talk in this book, not even in bad sitcoms, not even in the movies); and the "insights" that the protagonist has as a result of her time in the States and her visit back to India are clumsily expressed.

Great potential, very poor follow-through.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read for kids in a while. The story follows 12 year old Seema from her home in India to her big move to a small town in Iowa City. It's a lovely story about this girl's sense of belonging, her discovery of a new world & how she learns to adapt to her new environment though still keeping her strong Indian roots & beliefs. How she learns to make friends & deal with bitter enemies is a good lesson for all ages. Big heart in a little book.

[Marit ^_^ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wanna read this badly because i know that Kashmira Seth writes great books!

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book as a child. Why did I give it away?!? I loved the colorful imagery and the simple writing. Highly recommended.

[mussolet · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Blue Jasmine" talks about the problems children face when they're forced to emigrate with their parents to a new home in a very sensitive way and keeps it understandable for kids. In spite of the easy language this book should be interesting to adults as well, since the problems protagonist Seema is facing apply to adult situations (outside and beyond school) as well.

I liked it very much that - while she gets to know the American culture - her understanding for her own culture deepens as well. She doesn't think everything back home to be perfect, and, despite being quite miserable in the beginning, never only sees the bad side of her new home.

The contrast between the Indian and the Western culture was also very well executed - especially in Seema's discovery of the meaning of Swastikas as Nazi symbols in the Western world; and in the friends explanations of Diwali & Christmas.

All in all a highly recommendable book; also a very easy read, since it's well written, and just about 180 pages long.
Spiced with a few memorable quotes, it serves well to fill an evening with something really entertaining to do.

[April Helms · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had actually been looking for her newer book and couldn't find it, so I got this one in the meantime. Seema, 12, has just found out that her family is moving from India to the United States. The story is a fairly typical one -- outsider learns to adjust and goes from the fish out of water to swimming with the school. It does have a couple twists, though. One is when a family emergency calls them back to India. Seema realizes how much she has changed, but also how much her roots are still a part of her. Loved the dynamic between Seema and Raju, her cousin and best friend, and Seema and Mukta, a poor outsider.

One thing I didn't like was the dynamic between Seema and Carrie, who arrives at the American school well into the school year. The whole relationship between the two -- first adversarial, then friendship --seemed rather contrived.

Other than that, this was an enjoyable read. The glossary of expressions was helpful, although most of the words' meanings could be gleaned from the context of the story.

[Kathleen Payne · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story line is when... "twelve-year-old Seema Trivedi learns that she and her family must move from their small Indian town to Iowa City, she realizes she'll have to say good-bye to the purple-jeweled mango trees and sweet-smelling jasmine, to the monsoon rains and the bustling market. More important, she must leave behind her best friend and cousin, Raju. Everything is different in Iowa City, where Seema feels like an outsider to the language and traditions." Living in Yuba City we have many children come to our area from India and Mexico. The families from India come from the northern part of India, Punjab and are Sikh, which is different that Seema from the northwestern part of India and speaking Gujarati and some Hindi. Except for the religion, their food, clothing and values are very similar. I found the book a delightful read and I'll encourage my grand children to read this book. I love the simplicity of the stories told to the young audience. I enjoy the clarity and simplicity of the story that often gets lost in adult books.

[Agatha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Youth fiction. 12yo Seema Trivedi must move to America when her father gets a scientist job in Iowa City. She, her mother, father, and younger sister must leave behind their closeknit extended family (they live with their paternal grandparents, uncle and aunt, and cousins) and everyone in the family feels the rift strongly. However, she slowly but surely grows in confidence and friendships in her new home. When they must return to India when her grandmother falls ill, Seema is not sure if she feels more at home in India or in the US. In the US, everyone thinks she is Indian, and back in India, everyone says she seems so American. Plus, she wonders how to define friendship; is she a true friend to her former classmate Muhta who struggles through a life of poverty just to go to school each day but who also continues to write her consistently when she is in the US? Is the new girl, Carrie, giving HER a hard time just because she herself feels uncomfortable in her new Iowa City school? Good focus on friendships and intercultural relationships for the junior high set.

[Meaghan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish this character had sounded more like a real twelve-year-old girl. All the kid characters in the story had this problem -- they all sounded much older than their ages, and they all sounded the same. I mean, what twelve-year-old says things like, "Inside our hearts we were feeling the warmth and light of a new friendship"? I think the story would have done better written in the third person.

That said, nine-to-twelves will enjoy this story of a girl transitioning between two cultures. In addition to the typical immigrant problems like learning English, there are also problems in the story like a mean girl at school, and fighting with a cousin, that non-immigrant kids can understand and identify with. I also liked the way colors were used in the story. I get the impression that India is a very colorful place.

[Ginger Stepp]

The novel begins in India, with Seema and her family deciding to move to America, more specifically, Iowa. We are also introduced to Mutka, a young Indian girl whose family is struggling to makes ends meet. Seema is drawn to her and they strike up a friendship right before Seema and her family are to leave. In Iowa, Seema is met by Carrie and Jennifer who immediately become her best friends. Seema and her family go through the difficult task of assimilating into American life, but it is really Seema’s long-distance friendship with Mutka that is at the forefront. Seema is wary of their friendship as Mutka and her family are looked down upon because they are poor. The book not only explores Seema's assimilation but it also looks at how those of the same culture can ostracize their own.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seema has grown up in India, but now her family is moving to Iowa for at least two years for her father's job. It's a wrench to leave everything she's ever known and to try to adapt to a foreign (cold!) country. Will she ever find friends? Will she learn to speak English well enough to succeed? What will happen if she does, then they move back to India?

This was an inoffensive, gentle book about some successful immigrants to whom the worst thing that happens is a mean girl in school who pulls Seema's braid and tells her to go home. The small dramas don't last long, and overall this is just a comforting book for new immigrants, or those interested in India. The best parts are the lovely descriptions of life in Seema's hometown, which will resonate with those from a similar setting, and interest those who are not.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Seema learns that her family is moving from India to Iowa City where her dad takes a job. She struggles leaving behind her familiar city, but also her close relationship with her cousin. The transition to Iowa City is at times awkward and difficult and Seema learns the significance of the meaning of home, especially after an emergency trip back to India. At times I thought that AN IMPORTANT LESSON was being taught and was both a little clunky and wrapped up too nicely, but the book overall was sweet and very enjoyable. I liked it better as a whole than Koyal Dark, Mango Sweet, Sheth's other YA book I read recently. This would be a great book to discuss with a class. My library had this in the J section, so it might be lost to young teens.

[Cinnapatty · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. At the end of Seema's fifth grade year she and her family leave India and move to Iowa City. This book is full of beautiful comparative imagery and heartfelt life lessons. Seema is very introspective for her age and we are privy to her thoughts and self evaluation. It is touching.

Living in the MidWest makes me understand the cold and how overwhelming it was for her. I chuckled as she wrote, "You can't imagine how cold it gets here! Yesterday I was wearing seventeen things when I walked to school." And her description of how the days were so short in the Winter. Her mother confessed to going crazy with the short days and being trapped inside. I know THAT feeling.

Overall a lovely book that I could recommend for all readers.

[kelly · Rating 3 out of 5]

The library that sent this book classified it as YA.. I think I would have this as a solid juvenile. Why? because the ending is happy - the writing is more towards the juvenile end though there is some lovely poetic uses and phrases. This book contains quite a bit about upper middle class Indian life and the adjustments needed when immigrating to the US. I found Seema a mature main character. At times, she seemed more mature than most people around her. The side characters were not as well developed. All in all, this book makes me regret that I live in such a white bread part of the country...

[Tracy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a young adult novel about a girl who immigrates to the United States from India. All in all, it was a good read, but the author really missed some opportunites to delve into some of the deeper complexities adolscents face when they come here. She touched on a few, such as the realization that you can't ever really go back again (it's different, no matter what you tell yourself,) and the feeling of not belonging to either place. But she didn't explore these problems as completely as I wished she had. As a teacher of students who go through the same experiences, I think the novel would have been much more meaningful and fulfilling if she had.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seema's transition from India to Iowa is not smooth, and I'd have been disappointed if it were. She's constantly being shaken in her responses to people, particularly who her friends really are and what a friend is. I also liked that the cultural differences matter to her (her recognition that the use of the swastika, which in India is a Sanskrit good luck symbol, might not be appropriate here in the US, for example). Living in a relatively diverse area of the US, I knew what she was talking about regarding food and customs, but a glossary or translation for others might have been nice.

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Touching story - good for grades 4 and up. Seema moves her her family from India to Iowa City. Beginning a new life in a new country along with a new school is difficult. Seema faces the challenges of meeting with new friends, learning a new language, and learning about a new culture. She begins to find out how it feels to be the odd girl out, and this realization leads her to regret some of the cruel treatment she gave to a schoolmate back in India. Will she have a chance to make things right and feel at peace with herself?

[Crystal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leaving India for the United States is difficult for twelve-year-old Seema Trivedi because she lives in a very close-knit family situation. Her family is not fleeing her country, but is moving so her father can have a job that he enjoys. As Seema transitions to this new kind of life, we see the difficulties of learning a new language, making friends, and finding out how to still be yourself in a new place. We see some of Seema’s Indian culture, but mostly we see her as she learns about friendship – how to make friends and how to be a good friend in both of her homes.

[Carmen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book for the daughters of a friend who has come to the U.S. to do her PhD, thinking they would find a heroine they could identify with, and I think the book will do that. It was a gentle pleasant novel that once or twice made me tear up, as the adolescent narrator describes leaving her home in India when her father goes to carry out research at a university in Iowa. She struggles but eventually comes to love her new life and friends in the U.S. Although it is not exactly an adventurous page-turner, I enjoyed the book and hope my friend's daughters will too...

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This author lives in Madison, so I had an opportunity to meet her and got this book. I read it in a few hours and thought it was really good! I couldn't believe this is her first book ever. It would make a perfect read-a-loud for a family or classroom. Kashmira's style is very poetic without forcing it, and her characters are real and likeable. It is also a good book for kids who are experiencing a move of their own, since they will relate to the struggle to adjust to a new home.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

My daughter and I met the author at Barnes and Noble. She signed our copy of the book. One nice touch she added is that she brings along a rubber stamp to all of her book signings and puts a blue flower next to her signature to represent Blue Jasmine. The story starts in India and moves to Iowa, much like the author did in real life. A very neat moral to the story--I'm glad my daughter read it as well.

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

My daughter and I read this book. We read a chapter a night for 14 nights. I think the story is very well done and it is a great way to introduce the idea of cultural differences and similarities. I also think it is a great example of how friendships form.

The book is well written and while it is for tweens, I think it is written in such a way, with attention to language and plot, that adults will love it too.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was just fine - a girl moves from India to Iowa with her immediate family, misses home, adjusts to life in a new country, and deals with a mean girl in her class. I was hoping for a little more depth and originality, and maybe something about Iowa City to set it apart from every town (since I've lived there, and it has lots of great things about it). I liked the sections set in India more than the parts in the U.S. Decent suggestion for upper-elementary multicultural assignments.

[Molly Byelick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Blue Jasmine follows a young girl's (Seema) journey from a small Indian town to Iowa City, Iowa. This book does an excellent job of highlighting the challenges that can occur during a move to a foreign country. Seema learns to adjust to cultural differences and the language barrier, but still becomes a target of bullying at her new school. This book is ideal for students in upper-elementary and middle school grades.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

12 y.o. Seema moves from upper-class India community to middle class suburban America (Iowa?)

misses cousin Raju--he and Seema celebrated rakhi together
conflict: their being apart

class bully in America--Seema learns to understand Carrie

correspondence with Mukta--poor Indian classmate

I liked this as I read it, but it ended up not being so memorable.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet book about a twelve-year-old girl, Seema, who moves with her family from India to Iowa City. Her transition is mild compared to that of characters in other books, but she still experiences the same uncomfortable confusion, longing for her birth country, and prejudice attitudes that many immigrant children face. The prose is simple but filled with beautiful metaphors.