Sunita Chawdhary Books

‘Memories don’t always have to come from things’. When Maya looks to find her Grandpa’s cricket bat, despite it perhaps upsetting her Mama and Papa, it inspires her to start the school cricket club. Even though she is unable to find the bat herself, the cricket team begins training but with a surprise coach – not her dad like she expected, but her mum!

Training is gruelling but there is a reason behind it – her mum’s passion. Lots of different characters join the team and whilst it takes Maya time to warm to some of them, they band together as a team. The story develops and encapsulates how children need to adjust: to moving countries, to moving homes, to navigating friendships and school experiences. It explores the theme of kindness and how people remember when people are kind to them.

Maya is always shadowed by ‘Mind’ which I feel refers to the importance of her thoughts and feelings. The fact that Mind is always at the forefront of the decisions Maya makes shows the reader the significance of our minds on not only us as players but as friends and family members.