Eleven-year-old Indian American Sonali has learned to tamp down her feelings about many things, but especially the obvious tension and growing dysfunction between her parents. When her life begins transforming into a Bollywood musical, Sonali has no idea what is happening. She and her best friend, Pakistani American Zara, are huge Bollywood fans, but that doesn’t explain why everyone around Sonali is suddenly bursting into song while others become chorus members and backup dancers. Rooms transform into Bollywood-like sets with saturated colors, and people she loves become shining, Bollywood versions of themselves. Even more confusing is how everyone around her takes it all in stride, as if there’s nothing unusual happening. Like her dad, Sonali does not like to share her feelings, and she finds her own compulsion (and his) to burst into song alarming. But when she can’t resist, the words that come out of her mouth as she sings and dances convey how she’s really feeling about what’s going on in her family, and in her changing friendship with Zara. Amidst the abundant humor of this laugh-out-loud story is a tender, honest exploration of family and friendship, with characters who are anything but Bollywood-like in their complexity.
(Ages 8-12)