Anything Can Happen

Elizabeth S. Masih is the editor of Write On: The Newsletter for Young
Canadian Writers and Readers.

Anything Can Happen . . . and does, to an Indian-Canadian teenager named
Raj in this fast-paced and entertaining novel. The story opens with Raj
being roughed up by a bully and confronting one of his biggest problems:
an inability to fight back. Certain that his problem is caused by pure
cowardice, Raj wishes that his father were still alive to give him
advice. Understanding this, Raj’s mother decides that it is time to
give her son a gift left by his father: an antique Indian puppet.

Although this puppet seems an unlikely item to interest teens, Hughes
deftly uses it as a device that transports Raj back to 17th-century
India and into the body of a young puppeteer. The author might have more
fully explained some of the Indian terms in the book that might be
unfamiliar to many readers (e.g., sari, roti), but she successfully
manages to portray the wonders of India’s past through Raj’s eyes,
and to educate the readers while keeping them both interested and
entertained.

Raj’s journey is much more than a simple tour of the past, however,
as he finds himself propelled on a dangerous quest to save an Indian
girl’s father from false murder charges and execution by the
Emperor’s guards. Through his adventures, Raj discovers that fighting
is not always the answer, and that sometimes it takes more courage to be
a pacifist than to resort to violence. From this lesson in the past, Raj
finds a key that enables him to deal more productively with some of his
problems in the present.

This novel contains enough relevant events, past and present, to make
its message come across as genuine rather than preachy. In addition,
Raj’s self-depreciating humor as he tells his story keeps the tone
from getting too serious, and puts the events of the novel in a frame of
reference that is believable for young readers. This is a book that will
definitely leave readers richer for having read it.