Other Random References
Two of the riddles in this book can be attributed to American logician Raymond Smullyan—the riddle told by the police constable (“…this man’s father is my father’s son”) and the truth teller and lie teller puzzle put to Kiranmala by the sister witches near the end of the book. I have a great deal of affection for logical puzzles and riddles in general and Raymond Smullyan in particular because my own father, Sujan, adapted and translated many Smullyan puzzles into Bengali, and his Bengali children’s book, Dhadhapurir Golokdhadha (The Labyrinth Riddle of Riddle Land) is based on logical puzzles, including Smullyan’s.
The scene where Kiranmala has to shoot the eye of a hanging fish simply by looking down at its reflection in water is inspired by a similar test that the hero Arjun underwent in the Indian epic The Mahabharata. Green Eggs and Ham and “ooblecking” are both references to Dr. Seuss books. “Elladin Belladin Shoilo” is a common singing children’s game in Bengal. “Aguner Poroshmoni,” is a popular song written by Bengali Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. A harmonium is a keyboard instrument common in Bengali music. It is played with the right hand only, while the left pumps at the bellows behind it. An auto rikshaw, often called a tuk-tuk in other parts of Asia, is a small wheeled vehicle without walls hired like a taxi to go usually short distances. As far as I am aware, it is not safe to fly auto-rikshaws of any sort into outer space. So please, I beg you, do not try it at home.
There were many heroes who saved me in the writing of this book, without whom, the second installment of Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond would never have come into being! First and foremost, let me thank the teachers, librarians, booksellers, families, and young readers who have read, enjoyed, reviewed and shared the previous book in this series, The Serpent’s Secret. Your supportive notes, tweets, questions, and demands to know “what’s happening to Kiranmala next” have made the process of writing Game of Stars such fun!
I heartily thank my brilliant agent Brent Taylor and his colleague Uwe Stender, for believing in this series from the beginning. Thank you for paving the way for Kiranmala into the multiverse.
I have no words with which I can adequately thank my editor Abby McAden, who makes this process so joyous, besides putting up with my terrible jokes, and anticipating my every question great and small, profound and ridiculous. Thank you also to her assistant, Talia Seidenfeld, knower of all things. In my gratitude, I shower you both with intergalactic gold and platinum—barring that, a good deal of glitter.
Vivienne To, you have outdone yourself again! I thank Vivienne and the wonderful Elizabeth Parisi for their artistic vision on the cover and all the interior art. To Rachel Gluckstern and Melissa Schirmer, my production editors, Jackie Hornberger, my copyeditor, and to the rest of #Team Kiranmala, including the ever-wonderful Ellie Berger, David Levithan, the intergalactic marketing and publicity legends Rachel Feld, Vaishali Nayak, Lizette Serrano, Emily Heddleson, Tracy van Straaten, Lauren Carr, and Crystal McCoy—thank you again and again! Thank you to Anne Marie Wong and Preeti Chibber and the team from Scholastic Book Clubs as well as Robin Hoffman and the team from Scholastic Book Fairs for getting this series into the hands of so many readers. Thank you to my publicist Jennifer Romanello for being everywhere at all times. You are the best.
Gratitude to the best critique group around—Sheela Chari, Veera Hiranandani, and Heather Tomlinson—who keep me learning and growing as a writer. Eternal love and hugs to my writing sister, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, and to my oldest sister-friend, Kari Scott, who now needs to buy new boots to match Kiranmala’s new ones. (Everyone needs a childhood best friend this supportive!) I’m also indebted to the dynamic brother-sister duo of Mallika and Gautam Chopra for their invaluable support and advice on this series.
Thank you to the We Need Diverse Books, Kidlit Writers of Color, and Desi Writers families for being your awesome selves! Thank you to Kerri Cesene for your artistic support and camaraderie, and to Jovi Geraci—who is nothing like the mean girl named after her—for being your incredibly awesome and supportive selves. I couldn’t make it through without you both.
Thank you to my narrative medicine/health humanities colleagues at Columbia and around the country who continue to teach me that stories are the best medicine. Lots of gratitude as well to my former pediatric patients and my current undergraduate and graduate students, who teach me, inspire me, and fill me with hope for the future of this planet. Thank you to my extended family in India and this country, as well as my wonderful Bengali immigrant community of aunties, uncles, and dear friends.
To my loving and ever-supportive parents Sujan and Shamita who inspire me with their own creativity and brilliance, and cheer me on every step of the way. To my husband Boris and my darlings Kirin, Sunaya, and Khushi—for reminding me who I am, keeping me anchored, and loved, with my feet on the ground, even as we turn our faces toward the stars.
SAYANTANI DASGUPTA grew up hearing stories about brave princesses, bloodthirsty rakkhosh, and flying pakkhiraj horses. She is a pediatrician by training but now teaches at Columbia University. When she’s not writing or reading, Sayantani spends time watching cooking shows with her trilingual children and protecting her black Labrador retriever, Khushi, from the many things that scare him, including plastic bags. She is a team member of We Need Diverse Books and can be found online at sayantanidasgupta.com and on Twitter at @sayantani16.
KIRANMALA AND THE KINGDOM BEYOND
Book One
The Serpent’s Secret
Book Two
Game of Stars
Copyright © 2019 by Sayantani DasGupta
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, March 2019
Cover illustration © 2019 by Vivienne To
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi
Author photo by Chris X. Carroll
e-ISBN 978-1-338-18575-1
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher. For information regarding permission, write to Scholastic Inc., Attention: Permissions Department, 557 Broadway, New York, NY 10012.
Game of Stars Page 24
