Looking for Bapu
By Anjali Banerjee
Random House, 2006

Review by Pooja Makhijani
From Kahani Fall 2006

Just weeks after September 11, 2001, 8-year-old Anu’s grandfather, Bapu, suffers a massive stroke and passes away. Anu is beyond devastated. His parents just don’t understand what Anu is going through. So when Bapu’s spirit visits Anu one day, Anu knows that there must be a way to bring him back to life. With the help of his friends, kooky Izzy and mischievous Unger, Anu does anything and everything to bring his Bapu back.

Looking for Bapu (Random House, 2006) by Anjali Banerjee is a sad, beautiful – yet hopeful – book about loss. Readers will root for Anu and his cast of friends as they try to reunite Anu with his beloved Bapu. This reader adored hippie, flower-child Izzy. Izzy is not only one of Anu’s best friend, but his strength and vision throughout much of the book.

Ms. Banerjee bravely takes on religion, spirituality, and race in this touching novel. While searching for his grandfather’s spirit, Anu creates a makeshift shrine with Bapu’s statue of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction, and becomes the school sadhu by shaving off his silky black hair and telling his classmates’ fortunes. Anu, Izzy, and Unger even go as far as sneaking off to the Mystery Museum to consult the famous magician Karnak in the hopes that he might be able to bring his grandfather back to him.

Anu is clearly attached to his grandfather’s Hindu beliefs, but is on a very interesting spiritual quest. “Anu, you can decide to be anything you want - Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist,” his father tells him. “We’ve taught you about all religions so that, eventually, you can make up your own mind.”

As mentioned before, Looking for Bapu takes place shortly after 9/11 and is the first and only book for 8 to 11-year-olds that tackles the consequences of being a brown-skinned child in the aftermath of that terrible day. In one of the most heartbreaking - and
infuriating - scenes in the book, the E.M.T who comes to Bapu’s assistance refers to him as Osama bin Laden. Anu doesn’t know how to respond; he just wants these men to help his Bapu.

Looking for Bapu is a thoughtful and thought-provoking book. Though Ms. Banerjee addresses such heavy ideas as death, racism, and god, Looking for Bapu is a
uplifting, almost magical, read. Children who have lost loved ones will find an empathetic friend in Anu.