Written for kids but enjoyable by adults, Looking for Bapu is a particularly sensitive and engaging adventure novel about a child coming to terms with the loss of his grandfather. The first-person narrator, Anu, is believable and likable, and I was particularly impressed with the realism with which his thoughts and impressions are portrayed. This is a kid I feel like I know.

In the course of looking for his departed Bapu, Anu goes on some interesting journeys: there's the emotional journey, of course, and the intellectual struggle of coming to terms with death for the first time. But the physical journeys around the Pacific Northwest and to the famous "Mystery Museum" (a thinly disguised version of Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, on Seattle's waterfront) are vivid and fun. With plenty of humor, Looking for Bapu takes a serious subject and treats it with the respect it deserves while maintaining a lightness of heart that makes this book a positive pleasure to read. ( )

While hiking with his beloved grandson, Anu, Bapu (grandpa) suddenly collapses and later dies. Anu is distraught and believes if he becomes holier then perhaps his grandfather will return. After all, bargaining is one of the stages of grief. Fortune telling and a Mystery Museum all make this a sweet, sometimes funny and always heartfelt story.

Anu feels tremendous guilt when Bapu, his beloved grandpa, suffers a fatal stroke while they are on a hike in the woods. Anu regrets not bringing his cell phone or running home fast enough to call 911. Anu is inspired to become a holy man, a healer, so that he can bring Bapu back. This amusing journey includes shaving his head, giving away his school lunches and somersaulting all the way to school. When nothing seems to work, his last chance is Karnak the magician. But Karnak turns out to be nothing more than an ordinary man in a costume suffering a cold. Back home, Anu comes across an old picture of himself, and realizes it is a picture of Bapu as a child. Bapu hasn’t really left; he’ll always be with Anu. Indeterminate Pacific Northwest setting.

When Anu's grandfather dies, he's willing to try whatever it takes to bring him back. This novel deals with a sensitive issue in an interesting way…but it doesn’t quite succeed. Hindu mythology is well worked into the story, with the children setting up a shrine, Anu praying to Garuda, and the boy setting out to become a holy man in order to bring back his grandfather. This is the book’s best point, giving Hindu readers a story they can relate to effortlessly. Also mentioned is the effects of September 11th on Anu’s life and the teasing that followed it. However, this seems more important than it is, and readers will be confused when it doesn’t pan out in the story. Though they will relate to Anu’s desire to bring his grandfather back from the dead, a lack of one clear thread—first he prays to the gods, then he plans to become a holy man, then he seeks a magician’s help—will leave them wanting. This is a decent book that excels on some levels, but not quite on its main point as a book dealing with the loss of a loved one. ( )

When his beloved grandfather dies, eight-year-old Anu feels that his spirit is near and will stop at nothing to bring him back, including trying to become a Hindu holy man.