Ruowen Wang, illustrated by Hechen Yu,
Ajay
Kevin & Robin Books, 2008.

Rating: G*

This story is from the perspective of a boy of about 12. While visiting a Scarborough flea market with his parents, he encounters a younger boy named Ajay who has recently arrived from India with his family. Ajay is helping his father sell Indian crafts because they have very little money. Ajay explains their precarious situation to the narrator and encourages him to buy something. The narrator feels very badly that he does not have any money at that moment, but he saves up his money over the next few weeks. He eagerly returns to the flea market but discovers that Ajay and his family no longer come to the market because they could not sell enough. The narrator is heart broken, but continues to think often of Ajay.

The focus of this story is the narrator's new awareness of the disparities between families and his uncomfortable realization of his position of privilege. This story is an earnest and heartfelt look at the pain that comes with knowledge of suffering. It is interesting that Wang chose to tell this story about immigration and poverty from the perspective of this narrator, and it works to a certain extent. But the story somehow feels unsatisfactory because she does not fully develop the character of Ajay. The reader is left wanting to know more about his particular situation. Instead, the good intentioned narrator sums it all up by arriving at this unsatisfactory and almost patronizing conclusion: "May his dream of becoming a doctor someday come true. And all children have a happy, worry-free childhood."

Hechen Yu's illustrations bring a playfulness to the story. They lighten the heart-wrenching themes of this tale and make them more accessible to children.

Thematic Links: Families; New Immigrants

Zoe Johnstone
Vol. 15, number 5
June 2010

*Rating System:
E - Excellent, enduring, everyone should see it!
G - Good, even great at times, generally useful!
A - Average, all right, has its applications.
P - Problematic, puzzling, poorly presented.