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Artichoke Hearts ISBN: 9780330517911
Brahmachari, Sita
Published by Macmillan Children's Books, 2011
Mira Levenson gets some exciting gifts for her 12th birthday - a watch, a mobile, and a leather diary, and from her Nana Josie a tiny silver charm in the form of an artichoke with a red heart in the middle. She also gets her first period, which seems to be a 'sign' of something. Mira is rather into signs and portents. Not at all keen on school, due at least partly to bullying, she nevertheless agrees to join a writing group with her best friend Millie and two boys from their class, Ben and Jide. Jide, a refugee from Rwanda, is a complex character, as is Mira, and the two of them are soon sharing a tender relationship.
However, the real theme of the story is the impending death of Nana Josie from cancer. Mira and she are very close, and Mira's feelings about her grandmother are intense and genuine. Josie is an artist, as is Mira, and in her youth was a hippy. She is still part of a counter culture with a love of colour and unusual people. When her coffin arrives on Mira's birthday and she announces she wants Mira to help her paint it, Mira is startled but pleased, and together they produce a masterpiece of brightness and charm. The rest of this remarkable novel tells us of Nana Josie's gradual decline, of her plans, of her removal to a hospice, and her death. There is great sadness but no horror, no fighting the inevitable. Josie doesn't want to die, but she accepts and makes the most of the days she has left with the support of her loving family. The artichoke heart is Josie's way of explaining to Mira that people develop tough layers over what starts out to be soft and tender hearts in order to protect themselves. But some people don't have the protective layers, and they need charms to help them through. By the end of the story we understand that both Mira and Jide are people who need charms, and that love will provide the 'charm' for them both as it has for Nana Josie.
By far the most detailed story about the death of a grandparent that I have read, this book will provide support to those in need. Mira is half Indian, half white, and her Nana is her dad's white mother. While racial complications don't come into the story, there could be no stronger plea for the brotherhood of man.
Age: 11+