Ju’s Story

For Ju, old is gold. Her mother brings her hand-me-downs from the homes in which she works and Ju welcomes them like new friends. She especially loves the well-used textbooks and the treasures sometimes hidden among their pages: pressed flowers, poems, even a dead butterfly. Then one day Ju discovers a sealed envelope in a maths book, which has a stamp but no address... In the hands of a sensitive writer like Paul Zacharia, the story of a simple discovery that Ju makes becomes a moving experience. Asma Menon's strong, painterly illustrations suggest a sense of empowerment.