Editorial Content for Save Me a Seat

Filling a much needed gap of cultural diversity in children’s literature Sarah Weeks (author of PIE and HONEY) joins forces with first-time author Gita Varadarajan to create this beautiful book about two fifth grade boys who are meant to be friends but don’t know it yet. At the beginning of the first week of fifth grade their first impressions of each other couldn’t be more wrong.

Ravi --- a short Indian boy with glasses that always slide down his nose --- and his family have just moved to America. While his family is very excited for him to receive a fine American education after the first day of school he finds that no one, including his new teacher, can pronounce his name. Not only that, they don’t understand his accent and are unimpressed with his excelled math demonstration. He always brings a vegetarian lunch to school that looks strange to most students and is very different from the food served in the cafeteria. At first, Ravi misperceives many of the characters around him, not understanding who has the potential to be a true friend.

"SAVE ME A SEAT is a true innovation in literature and not to be ignored by everyone looking to add more diversity into their reading."

On the other hand, Joe Sylvester --- not-so-affectionately called “Puddy” or “Big Foot” by other characters in the book --- is an overgrown American boy who loves to eat traditional American food. Joe starts his fifth grade year eating lunch by himself. He feels like an outsider with his APD (Auditory Processing Disorder) since his two best friends from the year before moved away and the class bully, Dillon Samreen, is being a bigger jerk than ever this year. Plus, on top of everything else, this year his mom got a job as the cafeteria lunch monitor and does embarrassing things like blow him kisses in front of everyone!

So many events happen in the first week of school to affect these boys and their outlook on each other and the school year that it’s easy to forget not much time has passed. This book switches back and forth between the narrative of Ravi and Joe in the duration of the first Monday-Friday of the fifth grade school year. While the misconceptions seem to be skewed with Ravi’s initial dislike for Joe in opposition of their friendship, both sides are resistant to become friends until the end when they use their actions to team up against the class bully who has given each of them a separate uncalled-for nickname.

The reader will be cheering as Joe and Ravi finally realize they were supposed to be friends all along using very little conversation. The boys use different vocabulary from their cultures throughout the story (glossaries for their language can also be found in the back of the book). Between Joe’s ADP and Ravi’s accent, both faced communication challenges, but they prove cultural communication barriers can be knocked down with good actions and intentions. There seemed to be a silent agreement spoken through their actions that they suddenly understood each other and were friends.

Each section of the book is named after the day of the week and the cafeteria menu. For example: the first section in the book is called “MONDAY: Chicken Fingers,” the second section is called “TUESDAY: Hamburgers” and so on. This emphasizes that food and the social habits surrounding food are a very vital part of understanding different cultures. This is a major concept explored throughout the book. There are even recipes listed from each boy’s culture, including the apple crisp Joe’s mom makes him and the Naan Khatais Ravi’s mother prepares for him, in the back of the book. Much like language, food can be one of the most shocking things to learn about a culture. The foods shared by the characters allow them to feel their way through a disconnect, ultimately bringing them together.

With two different authors writing this book, each exploring accurate ideas of their own cultures, SAVE ME A SEAT is a true innovation in literature and not to be ignored by everyone looking to add more diversity into their reading.