For a 12 year old, Mira was extremely articulate and I found her beautifully written voice wonderful to follow. She is such an advocate for people to shake off their inhibitions, discover that their voice does need to be heard and to live life to the fullest. In a short and intense space of time she gets her first period, has her first real crush on a boy, loses a beloved grandparent and finds her true voice. We do go on a 'journey' with Mira as she experiences new feelings and goes through a major life event, losing one of the most important people to her, her Nana Josie. When Nana Josie was dying from cancer she gave the charm to Mira for her birthday for her to wear all her life just like she had but of course just when Josie was hanging onto dear life Mira had to come along and lose the charm.

She has been an Amnesty International Ambassador and speaks in schools, at festivals and conferences. For a book with such a young protagonist and a target audience that is much younger than the YA books I normally read, this book deals with death with a unique maturity and sensitivity that other books seriously lack.I loved how realistic the character's reactions to everything were - there were no huge breakdowns and 'how will I live after this' kind of attitude, it was all reasonable reactions that would happen to everyone. and she's able to present these in such a lovely, warm, empathic manner that you can't help but engage with the characters and will them through the darkness. Mira is only twelve and at first I thought it was going to be really difficult to relate to her, but she was such a glorious narrator….

I wasn’t expecting this to be a coming of age story but as well as that, Artichoke Hearts is sad, funny and heart-warming all at the same time. We follow the life of Mira Levenson as she tries to avoid spreading a simple secret about her mysterious love interest and the rest of her problems that every single woman had encountered throughout the whole book. I wasn't expecting this to be such a coming of age novel, but I'm so glad that it was - I was very impressed and will certainly be reading more by the very talented Brahmachari in the future. Not that I don't read books with teens as the protagonists, it is in most YA, but Mira is young even for most YA. Sita's first novel, Artichoke Hearts, won the Waterstones Children's Book Award and was voted in the Guardian's top 50 books celebrating diversity since the 1950s.

So imagine my delight when the two sides of Mira merged into one and she remained humble and still a little shy but capable of standing up for herself and finding her own voice. I liked to imagine that Jide is the mysterious loner boy in all these YA books only five years earlier.

Her many projects and writing commissions have been produced in theatres, universities, schools and community groups throughout Britain and America. This was such a warm and lovable story about a young girl beginning to figure out her place in the world and the kind of person she wants to be. Overall, I enjoyed this book and I will be purchasing Sita's new book Jasmine Skies with anticipation!Because I think that if I had read it when I was about the age of the protagonist I would've enjoyed it a lot more, and we do need books aimed at that age group (esp ones that deal with death). Mira is from a mixed ethic background her father is English and her mother is Indian, and her beloved grandmother Josie is dying of cancer.

The characters are so well developed that with little actual description, Sita Brahmachari really makes you feel as if you know them and can relate them to people in your own life. I thought the teacher who was giving extra lessons to some of the children at the school was a good attempt at showing how important it is to listen and support teenagers. It's not until you look back that you can see how the layers of your life and work are starting to fit together.

But I think even though I think it’s important to not scare the living crap out of kids about things like this, it is of equal importance to not wrap them in cotton wool and dumb things down so they are condescending. Brahmachari has been very successful with her portrayal of a twelve year old girl and it was great to read about an Indian/Jewish character, someone with a cultural history, without that being the main subject of the book. I wasn't sure what to expect when I started Artichoke Hearts because I didn't know if it could quite sum up anything like what it feels like to lose someone in that way.