Aru Shah and the End of Time
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
3 of 4 copies available
While her classmates are jetting off to family vacations in exotic locales, she'll be spending her autumn break at home, in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture, waiting for her mom to return from her latest archeological trip. Is it any wonder that Aru makes up stories about being royalty, traveling to Paris, and having a chauffeur?
One day, three schoolmates show up at Aru's doorstep to catch her in a lie. They don't believe her claim that the museum's Lamp of Bharata is cursed, and they dare Aru to prove it. Just a quick light, Aru thinks. Then she can get herself out of this mess and never ever fib again.
But lighting the lamp has dire consequences. She unwittingly frees the Sleeper, an ancient demon whose duty it is to awaken the God of Destruction. Her classmates and beloved mother are frozen in time, and it's up to Aru to save them.
The only way to stop the demon is to find the reincarnations of the five legendary Pandava brothers, protagonists of the Hindu epic poem, the Mahabharata, and journey through the Kingdom of Death. But how is one girl in Spider-Man pajamas supposed to do all that?
Includes a bonus PDF of the book's glossary.
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Creators
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Series
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Publisher
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Awards
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Release date
March 27, 2018 -
Formats
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OverDrive Listen audiobook
- ISBN: 9780525587538
- File size: 299670 KB
- Duration: 10:24:18
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Languages
- English
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Levels
- Lexile® Measure: 630
- Text Difficulty: 2-3
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Reviews
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Starred review from December 18, 2017
This series kickoff, which is also the first book from the Rick Riordan Presents imprint, expertly channels the humor and action that have made Riordan’s own work so successful. Twelve-year-old Aru Shah lives with her mother in the Museum of Ancient Indian Art and Culture in Atlanta. Aru’s tendency to bend the truth gets her into trouble when three of her classmates dare her to light a supposedly cursed lamp called a diya, which awakens the demonic Sleeper. With the help of her guardian, a pigeon named Subala, Aru learns that she is the reincarnation of one of five Pandava brothers, each the child of a different god. Aru meets one of her “soul-related” siblings, smart but timid Mini, and they head off to stop the Sleeper from reaching Shiva, Lord of Destruction. With her quick wit and big personality, Aru commands the spotlight (“I’m an A student,” she boasts to a doubtful Subala. “In the sense that she was a student whose name started with an A”), and Chokshi (The Star-Touched Queen) weaves an engrossing adventure that will leave readers anticipating the next installment. Ages 8–12. Agent: Thao Le, Sandra Dijkstra & Associates. -
This audiobook of two middle-schoolers' adventure of a lifetime begins with their finding out that they are reincarnated Pandava brothers, straight out of the Hindu epic poem the MAHABHARATA. Narrator Soneela Nankani is given a wealth of material to mine. Aru, having been taunted into lighting a cursed lamp, awakens the Sleeper, a demon that will freeze the world if Aru, Minnie, and her sister, Pandavani, cannot stop him before time runs out. Their only advisor is a supercilious parrot. The narration makes it easy to differentiate the girls through their character traits: Aru is determined and Minnie is brave. Lighter moments involve Minnie's hypochondria. The abundant cultural references are deftly handled in a narrative that will leave listeners eagerly awaiting the heroine's next quest. E.J.F. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
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