Thirst by Varsha Bajaj tells the story of a 12-year old girl living in Mumbai who must balance school, a job as a maid, a growing water crisis, and witnessing a crime. I loved this book and recommend it highly for upper-elementary and middle school libraries.
Author: Varsha Bajaj
Publication date: July 19, 2022
Genre: realistic fiction
Recommended for: Grades 3-7
Setting: Mumbai, India; present day
Themes: water shortages, access to water, poverty, thieves, crime, mafia, whistleblowing, human rights, slums, injustice, privilege, parental illness (mother), girls' access to school
Protagonist: female, age 12, Indian, Hindu, 7th grader
Starred reviews: SLJ and School Library Connection
Pages: 192
Minni lives in the poorest part of Mumbai, where access to water is limited to a few hours a day and the communal taps have long lines.
Lately, though, even that access is threatened by severe water shortages and thieves who are stealing this precious commodity—an act that Minni accidentally witnesses one night.
Meanwhile, in the high-rise building where she just started to work, she discovers that water streams out of every faucet and there’s even a rooftop swimming pool.
What Minni also discovers there is one of the water mafia bosses. Now she must decide whether to expose him and risk her job and maybe her life.
How did something as simple as access to water get so complicated?
Thirst features a 12-year old Indian girl named Minni. She lives in a slum in Mumbai, India with her mother, father, and older brother, Sanjay.
One night, Minni and Sanjay accidentally witness water theft, committed by local water mafia members. When their adults find out about what they witnessed, Sanjay is whisked away to live with relatives and to keep him safe. Minni stays behind to go to school, but she is sworn to never tell anyone what she saw.
There is much going on in this story. Minni’s family struggles daily to survive and (hopefully) thrive one day. Both parents work very hard, and illness, hunger, and thirst are constants in their lives.
Thirst brings major world problems to young readers who would not otherwise experience them. I’m always a fan of books set outside the US, particularly when they describe global problems like water shortages, lack of access to fresh food, immense poverty, and government corruption.
This book will make young readers indignant at how unfair and unjust things can be. This is not just an India problem – it’s a whole world problem. Most middle grade readers probably won’t be aware of these issues prior to reading Thirst, but they will ultimately be the ones to deal with the problems as adults. And likely on a much wider global scale.
Ignorance and indifference are a huge part of why these issues persist. It is crucial our young people become aware of global problems and feel empathy for those who live amid these serious issues. Without knowledge and empathy, issues like water shortages, climate change, poverty, income inequality, and abuses of power will continue to oppress millions of people worldwide.
I’ve made a free poster in Canva! It has a quotation from page 1 of Thirst. It’s editable in Canva, or you can download an uneditable PDF from my Google Shared Drive.
To edit in Canva, open the link above. Then, click FILE – Make a Copy to edit.
In the Google Drive, click the link above. Open the Librarians folder – Posters and Signs – Quotation Posters. Note that the Google Drive version is a PDF and is not editable.
Click the poster image below for a larger view.
Female protagonist is 12-year old Indian and Hindu living in Mumbai. All characters are Indian. Protagonist’s best friend is Muslim.
I listened to this book entirely on audiobook. The narration is well-paced, and characters are easy to distinguish. Narrator Reena Dutt uses Indian accent for character dialogue. I was able to follow the story easily on audiobook.
Would adults like this book? YES! The water crisis is a real and immediate problem in some parts of the world.
Would I buy this for my high school library? No–it’s too young. I suggest Dry (Shusterman) or Not a Drop to Drink (McGinnis) instead.
Would I buy this for my middle school library? YES, no reservations for middle school
Would I buy this for my elementary school library? YES, no reservations for Grades 3+
Language: none
Sexuality: none
Violence: news about a man in the community who was likely murdered because he “knew too much” about water theft
Drugs/Alcohol: none
Other: constant fear and threat of violence if the main character comes forward with her information
