Savi and the Memory Keeper

by Bijal Vachharajani

Overview

Funny, thoughtful, and deeply moving—with a unique blend of fantasy and actual science—this novel explores both personal grief in the face of family loss and collective grief in the face of climate crisis, and how the only way to move forward is through friendship of all kinds.

In Shajarpur, everyone is always happy. The weather is always perfect. But newcomer Savi, a lonely teenager, doesn’t know what happiness means anymore. If she were to make a list of things that were the absolute worst, moving to Shajarpur would be right on top. Well, right after missing her father, who just died of a heart attack.

As Savi grapples with loss in a strange new town, she discovers something startling. Not only can she communicate with her father’s plants—all forty-two of them—she can talk to the giant ficus tree behind her school. Savi soon learns that Tree (as they are known) knew her father as well and that their friendship was at the heart of a magical network of animals and plants working together to protect Shajarpur.

However, Tree is in danger, along with everything else, and needs Savi’s help. As she joins with all kinds of living things to save the town, Savi is shocked to find she is happy again, even if forces of nature are beyond her control.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798212877053
Publisher:	Blackstone Publishing
Publication date:	05/21/2024
Pages:	216
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	12 - 17 Years

About the Author

Bijal Vachharajani can usually be found reading, writing, or editing a children’s book, when she’s not cloud watching. She won the AutHer Award for Best Children’s Books in 2020 and 2022 for A Cloud Called Bhura and Savi and the Memory Keeper. She’s the former editor of Time Out Bengaluru and has a master’s in environment security and peace from the University for Peace. She’s now a certified climate worrier.

Editorial Reviews

“Savi and the Memory Keeper takes the reader on a journey that walks a line between fantasy, reality, humor, and poignance…Snarky and guarded in the wake of her father’s death, Savi ends up showing us how connection—to plants and animals, to her mother and sister—can be the key both to self-renewal and to saving our planet.”

acclaimed author of The Big Dreams of Small Creatu Gail Lerner

Enchanting, witty, and achingly beautiful, Savi and the Memory Keeper is at once fantastical and real—where tree hugs heal and wasps are saviors. The author skillfully weaves a narrative of personal and climate grief, and the healing power of Nature.”

wildlife conservationist and writer Prerna Singh Bindra

A book of magic. It’s about trees and even if there were no talking trees and wasps that communicate, it would still be magic because trees are magic. When you have finished, you’ll want to go out and hug a tree. (Just do it.)”

bestselling author Jerry Pinto

I never expected a book about grief to make me laugh out loud so many times! Savi’s story bursts with heart, humor, empathy, affection, and just the right amount of magic. Each page feels more truthful than the last. A touching page-turner for all ages.”

acclaimed author of A People’s History of He Mathangi Subramanian

Vachharajani’s books are so inspirational—they remind us that no matter how scary things may get, how imperfectly we may behave or how hopeless we may sometimes feel, the fight for our planet isn’t over.”

Vogue India

Savi and the Memory Keeper is a poignant novel in which natural connections are a means of triumphing over greed and climate change.”

Foreword Reviews

Part environmental fable, part coming-of-age tale, Savi and the Memory Keeper is tender, charming, and deep—a wonderful book.”

New York Times bestselling author of If I Stay Gayle Forman

2023-07-13
Six months after Dad’s fatal heart attack, his grieving family moves to his hometown.

Lonely Savi is just shy of 14. Her older sister escapes into social media. Mom is withdrawn, cleaning obsessively. Leaving polluted Delhi, the Kumars settle in Shajarpur, renowned for its perfect climate and clean air, along with Dad’s 42 houseplants, withering without his care. Savi is determined to save them, and soon something strange happens: Whenever she touches a plant, she has visions, glimpses into her father’s youth, Shajarpur’s history, and threats to its future. At her new school, Savi meets Tree, an enormous Ficus mysorensis, or fig tree, who communicates especially powerfully with her. She joins the school ecology club but is also approached by the uber-wealthy Very Cool and Hip People, who make her feel insecure. Hiding her new powers, Savi is torn between the two groups until the shocking announcement that Tree, who seems to be dying, will be cut down. Tree’s decline also mirrors a negative shift in Shajarpur’s weather. The growing urgency forces Savi outside her comfort zone as the story builds to a climax that exposes a shadowy group of conspirators. Narrated in Savi’s fresh, humorous voice, this dreamy, atmospheric story skillfully explores the dynamics of grief. The nuanced conclusion reinforces central themes of interconnection between people and environment and the joyful, healing properties of nature. The often playful tone helps soften the serious subject matter, and Eipe’s spot art whimsically references the environmental content.

Lush, imaginative, and emotionally insightful. (Eco-fantasy. 10-16)

Kirkus Reviews