SUNAKALI

In the village of Mugu in Nepal, Sunakali Budha’s poor family holds traditional views about gender.

At home, Sunakali and her girlfriends are required to cook, clean, and do laundry. In fact, they have so many responsibilities that none of them are in school any longer. While they graze the family goats—another one of their duties—the girls play soccer with a ball donated to their village. Suddenly, a male coach arrives in Mugu and offers to form the girls into a soccer team. The girls’ parents are unsure at first, but the village chief convinces them to give the coach a chance. Eventually, the girls compete in tournaments across Nepal, winning game after game. Sunakali becomes so famous that she moves to Kathmandu, where she enrolls in a training school for soccer players. Her father, initially wary of Sunakali’s talents, begins to support her dream to go pro. The book’s text can be difficult to follow, particularly in the first few pages, in which the perspective switches abruptly from first to third person and bobbles between past and present tense. The illustrations accurately portray rural and urban Nepal, but their cartoony quality at times detracts from the gravity of the story. Particularly in the first third of the story, the author emphasizes Mugu’s poverty and gender inequality rather than the girls’ athletic experiences and talents. Although this book is based on real events and people, there is no backmatter or sourcing to provide additional context or authority. (This book was reviewed digitally with 12.6-by-18.8-inch double-page spreads viewed at 47.5% of actual size.)

Falters in both writing and perspective.