posted on 17 Oct 2024

Anya’s Quest by Jasbinder Bilan, illustrated by Jane Ray

This book is a lovely example of what happens when an excellent writer, a fabulous illustrator and a beautifully designed book all come together and create an enriching reading experience. It is also a to be admired that this great creative team have produced a book that deals with such a pressing and important issue – our need to curb the degradation of the environment and save our planet.

Anya lives a rather spoiled existence in a palace in the high Himalaya. She misses her mother who has died and, sadly, all the toys her father buys for her can’t disguise the fact that she’s got a great void in her life. With winter closing in, Anya feels trapped without her friends being able to visit as the snow piles high.

What Anya doesn’t know is that at night, as she sleeps, she sings a song that alerts the great Ganga, the river goddess to her presence. Elsewhere in the rich merchant’s house, Ganga can also hear the song of another young girl – Mahi – the cook’s daughter. Could it be that these two young girls can help the goddess bring the plight of the natural world to the attention of all the young people across the world?

Anya is initially reluctant to demean herself by playing with a simple cook’s daughter but when she sees how much fun Mahi is having in the snow she finally gives in and joins her. And this will be the biggest decision of her life because when she ventures outside, the goddess takes the chance to sweep her and Mahi up onto Makara, her river dragon, and take them on a journey that will lead both girls to understand how they are fundamentally part of nature – and that their well-being is dependent on the well-being of the natural world.

Expect to meet more gods and goddesses, spirit animals and even take a journey in time. The experience will bond the two girls and transform Anya’s previously rather selfish view of the world and other people. And they will learn an important lesson – they can be the agents for change. If all young people make just small contributions to saving their world, things can be transformed.

Jane Ray's artwork, as always, shimmers on the page. It's hard to think of a children’s book illustrator who would be better suited to providing the artwork needed to give this important story an extra dimension. Her liberal use of gold and silver gives her drawings – which are already richly coloured – that little bit of something special.

This is very much a book to treasure and a joy to hold in your hands.

Available now from Walker Books, you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop – who will be happy to order you a copy if they don’t have it on their shelves.

 

Terry Potter

October 2024