Rani Sen

Age: Rani is in 9th grade and is thirteen.

Hair: Thick black hair, which tends to go frizzy in humid weather.
She wears two ponytails and longs to have her hair cut short into
a cool style.

Eyes: Brown

Body: Rani is exotic, with big, long-lashed eyes. She doesn't feel pretty, though. She's not yet comfortable in her own skin. She's short and slim, and she feels self-conscious about her oily skin. She also wishes her body was a bit more "developed."

Fashion-Sense: Rani's parents don't let her do much to experiment with fashion. She wears conservative clothes. But she's interested in fashion and wishes she could be part of the popular group. In her first book, she joins up with a club who call themselves the Fashion Divas.

Likes/Dislikes: As an escape from her parents' high expectations, Rani reads a lot, and secretly, she loves to draw. She fills up sketchbook after sketchbook with doodles and pictures of her family, friends and teachers. She also likes to run.

Parents: Rani's parents are both successful professionals and strict about their expectations of Rani. The family often has relatives -- grandmother or aunts and uncles -- visiting from India.

Brothers/Sisters: Rani has a younger, mischievous brother named Dev, who is in elementary school. She often has to take care of him. He's a constant source of irritation.

School: Rani is a high achiever -- a perfectionist, in fact -- and so she is often hard on herself. She excels in school as an Honor Student. She even took a college English class as part of an accelerated study program, but she felt out of place among the older students. She plays classical piano and sometimes gives lessons to beginners. She wins the science fair every year, and her parents want her to become a famous scientist or a doctor.

Crushes/Friends: Bella is Rani’s best friend, and in her first book she makes friends with some of the popular girls known as the Fashion Divas.

Secrets: Her friends think she doesn't like boys. She says she can't stand "boy-crazy girls," but this hides her own growing interest in boys. Rani is extremely self-conscious about being small and young for her grade. Rani is also shy and fears public speaking.

First Book: Rani and the Fashion Divas (November 2005)