Product Description

In a dingy shack in the less-than-desirable Indian neighborhood he calls home, twelve-year-old Anand is entrusted with a conch shell that possesses mystical powers. His task is to return the shell to its rightful home many hundreds of miles away. Accompanying him are Nisha, a headstrong but resourceful child of the streets, and a mysterious man of indeterminate age and surprising resources named Abadhyatta. His quest will take him farther from home than he's ever been and will teach him more than he ever imagined -- and it will force him to make a poignant decision that will change him forever.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #117565 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 265 pages

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7-Anand's compassionate gesture of sharing his tea with an old man in a Calcutta market leads to radical changes in the 12-year-old's life. The stranger is a member of the Brotherhood of Healers and invites the boy to join him on a dangerous journey to return a magical conch shell to its proper home in the far-off Himalayas. Along with Nisha, a sweeper-girl who insists on joining them, Anand and Abhaydatta travel to the mountains pursued by the evil Surabhanu, a power-hungry ex-member of the brotherhood. Anand struggles in his own mind, doubting Abhaydatta's motives and the existence of magic, jealous of Nisha's comfortable relationship with the old man, and occasionally succumbing to Surabhanu's tempting illusions. When he finally reaches the Silver Valley, more challenges await him before he can enter. In the end, he faces the most difficult choice of all-to stay in the world of magic he had always dreamed of or return to his family. This quest adventure has an exotic flavor: the journey from a crowded Indian city through rural villages and the high mountains, a magical background from traditional Indian tales, and deliciously detailed description of Indian foods. Honesty, loyalty, and compassion are the virtues demanded by the Healers; Anand's actions show that he has all three. Readers can sympathize with his struggles and long for his success. This traditional story in fresh new clothing should appeal to middle graders.
Kathleen Isaacs, Edmund Burke School, Washington, DC
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. In modern-day India, a boy named Anand perseveres in difficult circumstances. His father is gone, his sister has had a breakdown, and he and his mother struggle to keep a shack's roof over their heads. Anand is kind to an old man, Abhaydatta, a healer who is charged with bringing home an irreplaceable conch shell, stolen from his brotherhood. What follows is a classic quest story in which Anand and feisty, orphaned Nisha eventually continue the quest for the shell on their own. Faced with all the conventions of the genre, they undergo various trials, and Anand makes choices that change his life. Fantasy lovers will recognize familiar elements; certain touches are reminiscent of the Harry Potter books (the evil one takes the shape of a snake) and C. S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (tempting food controls a child). With so many fantasies being published, what's special about this one? It's the unique setting, along with the elegance of Divakaruni's writing. The slums of "Kalcotta" are so richly created that readers can almost smell them, and the pure beauty of Anand's destination is a shimmering Shangri-La come to life. The characterizations have the same lucidity, real to the core, yet cloaked in magic. This speaks directly to children, in a very enticing voice. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
"This book is a real page-turner...you'll stay up late to finish it."

--Chicago Tribune

"Young readers can only hope for more from this master storyteller."

--Publishers Weekly, starred review

"The action is exciting, and the Indian setting makes this story new and different."

--Washington Post

"Divakaruni [is] a gifted storyteller....Though [she] beguiles us with the sights and sounds of an exotic place, what she really does is make us feel at home."

--Los Angeles Times

Customer Reviews

An Exotic Magical Adventure!
Divakaruni's exotic adventure "The Conch Bearer" stands out among the many palid children fantasies out there. Her characters are fresh, vivid, and 3-dimensional, and she sucks you into the Indian setting showing you and ultimately making you appreciate their culture. Anand is not enjoying his life when the story starts. Ever since his father left for a job in America, every day that passes erodes the hope from Anand that he might come back. Money becomes short and soon Anand's mother can't afford to send him or his sister to school anymore and Anand has to go and get a job for the horrible Haru. One day, Anand is kind to a strange man, Abhaydatta, who ultimately whisks him away on a grand adventure and entrusts Anand with the task to safely return the all powerful Conch to the Silver Valley; a nirvana high in the mountains. Anand must do this all the while trying to keep the Conch from the greedy Surabhanu. This story may not sound all that original, but Divakaruni's Indian setting and vivid characters give it a fresh spin that left me clamoring for the sequel. Don't miss out on this magical adventure.

The Conch Bearer
The Conch Bearer is an imaginative, exquistely told narrative of adventure and fantasy. It is barrels of fun to read up until the last few chapters. Those chapters are not consistent with the rest of the story.

The Conch Bearer follows a poor boy named Anand who lives in a shack with his mother and mentally ill sister, Meera. Anand is laughed at by school children and has to work many hours every day just to earn a few dollars a month. Then one day, a sorcerer named Abhaydatta follows Anand home and heals Meera. Abhaydatta then invites Anand to follow him on a mystical quest to return the magical conch to the Brotherhood.

I love Anand and his family. I love Nisha, the adorable street girl who accompanies Anand and Abhaydatta to become the first Sister of the Brotherhood.

The one thing that absolutely ruins the story happens near the end when Anand forces his family to forget all about him so he can join the brotherhood without guilt. The story would have been so hopeful and good if it had not been for the conclusion.

The Conch Bearer is a good read, but the ending is not consistent with any of the story's values.

Classic Adventure Tale of a Magical Quest
Characters to care about...food you can almost taste, weather you'd swear you feel...if you like Harry Potter-type stories (with magic and a boy with a destiny) and Lord of the Rings style adventure (a wise old man, a dangerous journey, the responsibility of bearing a powerful, sought after object) than you will love this tale. Author Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni has a way with words. Her descriptions are always rich and luscious and savory, at the same time her style also manages to keep you reading to the next chapter and the next. Be careful! You may miss your stop on the train reading her stuff! For children, this book and NEELA'S SONG are so exciting you won't want to put them down. Her work for adult readers is just as riveting and captivating.