Aru Shah and the End of Time, by Roshani Chokshi



Best-selling author Rick Riordan introduces this adventure by Roshani Chokshi about twelve-year-old Aru Shah, who has a tendency to stretch the truth in order to fit in at school. While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she’ll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?

One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru’s doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don’t believe her claim that the museum’s Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again. But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction.

Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it’s up to Aru to save them. The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that? (from the publisher)


This is a fantastic story that connects readers to Hindu mythology in a fun and vibrant way, while emphasizing the lived experience of an Indian-American girl as she navigates family cultural norms and expectations of her peers. This book has many similarities to the May Tween book, A Wizard of Earthsea, in focusing on the importance of making mistakes, learning from them, and fixing what is broken as part of growing up.

This class is a self-paced version of a book from the 2021-2022 academic year SEA Online Classes Tween Book Club.

Each book club grants access to the following elements:

* A suggested reading schedule

* A PDF reading guide with comprehension questions

* Vocabulary activities

* Writing/multimodal project prompts related to the reading


If you would also like to sign up for feedback on a project or a chance to discuss the reading, please sign up here. For more tutoring/coaching options, please send a request here.

Ages:

9-14


Content Note:


Some violence (age-appropriate) and scary situations. Flawed protagonist and peers who are bullies and use peer pressure to do the wrong thing. Some family conflict.

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