Nikhil Out Loud

Mulik Pancholy's Nikhil Out Loud is a warm, funny story for 10 year olds about a cartoon star who has to start all over again in a town full of cornfields.

What happens

Nikhil is the voice of Raj Reddy, a kid detective in outer space. The book opens with him winning an award in front of thousands of screaming fans. Then what feels like three tons of green goo lands on his head.

That same night his mum tells him the big news. His nana (his grandad on her side) is very poorly in Ohio. So they're packing up and leaving Los Angeles, and Nikhil will record the show from a studio near his grandparents' house. The studio turns out to be a man called Big Bob's actual house.

You're right inside Nikhil's head, and he's far more nervous than his fans would ever guess. His thumb shakes when he gives someone a thumbs-up. His award speech flies straight out of his brain. Anyone who has ever frozen with everyone looking at them will feel that.

School is its own adventure. A boy called DeSean helps him find his way on the first morning. By maths half the class is chanting "Do the voice!"

Home is complicated too. Mum and her dad clearly haven't made peace, and Nikhil blurts out the one thing nobody is meant to say. Nani is lovely though. She cooks mountains of food and jumps a mile every time Streak the dog barks.

Nikhil also tells you early on that if anyone made him blush, it wouldn't be a girl. It would be a boy. When he meets Mateo, something flips in his stomach. It's handled simply and sweetly, exactly how a first crush feels.

It's worth knowing what's in here. Nikhil is thirteen and starting eighth grade, and the worries are real ones. His grandad is seriously ill with his heart and kidneys. Later he's cast as the star of the school's musical, and some parents make it clear they don't want an openly gay boy in that part.

For a reader who's ready for that, it's a kind, funny book about being brave somewhere new. For a more sensitive child it might be one to save for a little while.

What to read next

If they'd like another kid who finds the words don't always come out when they want them to, try Lety Out Loud next. Lety takes a moment to put her English in order before she speaks, and she's fallen for a terrier at the local animal shelter (Streak was a shelter puppy too).