Asha & the Spirit Bird

Jasbinder Bilan's Asha & the Spirit Bird is a brave, magical journey story for 11 year olds about a girl who won't give up on her dad.

What happens

Asha lives with Ma and her little twin brother and sister on a farm in a village below the Himalayas. Papa went off to work in a city factory eight months ago. His letters stopped in May. So did the money.

Then a moneylender turns up at the gate with two men and a metal pipe. They drive off in Papa's tractor and promise to be back at Divali for the rest. If there's no money by then, the family loses the house. Ma is already thinking about selling up and moving to England (Asha finds the letter from her uncle tucked behind the shrine).

So Asha decides she'll go and find Papa herself. Jeevan, her best friend, is coming too.

What makes this one special is Asha's grandmother. Nanijee died when Asha was six, but she always said she'd come back to watch over the family. So when a huge bearded vulture lands right beside Asha and leaves a gold-tipped feather at her feet, is it just a bird? Asha isn't sure. You won't be either, and that's a lovely place to read from.

Asha tells the story herself, and her feelings are right there on the page. Anger at Ma for keeping secrets. Fierce love for the twins. Guilt about the empty bed Ma will find in the morning. And a bit of a blush whenever Jeevan's being kind (he's very good at that).

The village feels real too. Chai with cinnamon, a hideout up the mango tree, jasmine round the statue on the shrine, cows spooked in the shed. There's a properly spooky night visit to the old woman at the far end of the village, with a skull hanging by her door, and it's brilliantly done.

The moneylender's visit is frightening, so it's good to know what's coming. One of the men shoves Ma to the ground and another grabs Asha by the wrist and shakes her. It happens right at the start and it's what sets everything going. Most readers on this shelf will cope fine, and they'll be cheering for Asha all the way.

What to read next

If they love a girl who sets out to put things right, Dindy and the Elephant is another story set in India, where a girl overhears the grown-ups talking about leaving for England.