Sailing On To Island's End by Padma Venkatraman:

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Writing Climbing The Stairs has been a wonderful journey.

And as all good journeys do, it's been filled with pleasant surprises. Here are some of them:

1. Writing the story enabled me to travel into my family's past, and learn a great deal about my mother's life.
   
   
   
2. I wrote the book for young adults, but I've been touched, thrilled and most pleasantly surprised to see that many adults and senior citizens demand, "Why is this book classified as YA? I never realized it was. It's got as much sophistication as many adult novels." Mostly, this surprises me because I realize that the category "young adult" is sometimes construed as less sophisticated than just plain old fiction which is shelved in the grown-ups section. I think that my book and many other "YA" novels can and should be read by all adults - young, youngish, old and older still! Because, in the end, a novel is a novel, whether it happens to be labeled "multicultural" or "young adult" or whatever else. And just as anyone can enjoy a good movie whether it's rated G or PG-13, everyone should read a novel without worrying about categories. And yes, I think adults will learn a lot from reading my novel, and the questions it raises are important for people of all ages to ponder and debate.
   
   
3. I saw so many wonderful librarians in Public Libraries that I became an American citizen. This country has the most amazing free library system.
   
   
4. A book begins by being an author's work, and ends up being a team effort that belongs to the entire publishing house. I was moved by the wonderful support for the book from my fantastic publisher, Penguin, every step of the way, and from everyone - editor, publisher, executive vice president, marketing, publicity - every single person I've met at Penguin, face-to-face or virtually has worked to help the book, and it is no longer "my" book, it's ours.
   
   
5. I was touched by how well received the book has been: starred reviews in Booklist and Publishers Weekly, a 5Q 4 P review in VOYA, and excellent reviews in School Library Journal and Kirkus.
   
   
6. I've been thrilled to see people of all ages in my audience at book signings. When the book was released, Robert of The Other Tiger bookstore threw a launch party for me, Trinki of Barrington Books and Jennifer of Books on the Square arranged wonderful events with free snacks provided by India restaurant. And all three of them decided to honor my work by selling the novel on the adult fiction as well as young adult sections of their stores.
   
   
7. I've been delighted by how interested several reporters were in my work and the wonderful articles they've written for the Providence Journal, India Currents, India New England, the South County independent, the Newport Mercury, the Westerly Sun, the SO Journal, and our very own NK villager.
   
   
8. I'm overjoyed that already, I've had a spate of emails from people of all ages - senior citizens who love the book because they get to find out where the rest of the world was during World War II, adults who were teenagers in the sixties and who love finding out more about Gandhi and nonviolence, teenagers who are amazed at how difficult life was for Indian women in the 1940's, teachers and librarians who are delighted to learn about Judaism in India and about Indian philosophy and spirituality.
   
   
9. I've been invited to 3 book club meetings already! What fun!
   
   
10. My colleagues at URI are working together with me and their graduate students and undergraduate students on a research project that ties into teaching the book and the different issues raised by the book. I've started a website that provides resources on the themes in the book (such as Indian culture, spirituality, philosophy, Judaism in India, the contributions of the colonies to the war effort, social justice, gender equality, colonization, violence, nonviolence).

I feel very grateful for all the support the book has received, as I turn now to continue writing my second novel, which, if all goes according to plan, will be released in 2010. It's a story with a setting just as exciting and unique as that of Climbing The Stairs - a remote location where I worked as a researcher many years ago. For now, it's called Island's End.

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Padma Venkatraman, Climbing The Stairs, India, Young Reader, World War II, friendship, library, growing up, Penguin Books, books