The Happiest Tree

The Happiest Tree
by Uma Krishnaswami

I really like this book.  It's about a little girl, of Indian heritage, but living in the U.S. who learns yoga to cope with stressful situations.  I like that her parents are supportive and kind.  I like that she learns how to breathe and calm herself down when the other kids get frustrated with her, a lesson that I have had trouble learning as an adult.  I like that she's not perfect (she's clumsy and reluctant to participate in the school play).  I like that my own daughter has expressed interest in yoga, and has participated in it with her dada (grandfather), partly because we read this book.

The Bookshop Dog

The Bookshop Dog
by Cynthia Rylant

I sometimes browse the kid's book sections of thrift stores to see what I can see.  One day, I came across this book in a thrift shop.  I leafed through it, and bought it without actually reading it simply because it contained an interracial relationship.  After I read the book, I liked it even better because the relationship wasn't even discussed as "interracial," but was presented as a natural part of the story.  Those kinds of visual and symbolic representations are important to me to "normalize" my daughter's experience in the world.  It's great when they occur in books that aren't explicitly about interracial relationships, but are presented as natural events in the story.  The book is a decent one in its own right.  It's about a woman who owns a bookshop and is very fond of her dog.  The woman has to be hospitalized for a medical condition (not a serious one), and the friends and acquaintances of the dog all fight over who gets to take care of her while her owner is away.  It's got some great little humorous bits in it as well that make my four year old laugh.  I'd recommend this one.

My Dadima Wears a Sari

My Dadima Wears A Sari
By Kashmira Sheth

This is a beautiful book about an extended conversation a young girl has with her Dadima (grandmother) about the usefulness (some of it imaginary) and personal history of Dadima's saris.  The book has a playful, tender tone, and my daughter has taken a liking to it.  She now keeps asking me if she can wear a sari.  I tell her we'll have to wait until her dadi comes to town, so she can dress GG in it.  Incidentally, my daughter's dadi does not wear a sari every day or even most days.  But she does wear them sometimes (she wears a salwar kameez most days).  The story illustrates a nice perspective of a young girl who is not surrounded by people wearing saris everyday (in the U.S.), but who is close to her grandmother who does wear one.  She is intimately familiar with her grandmother's saris, yet her grandmother has a lot to teach her about them.  I plan to check out other Sheth books, including her chapter books for older kids.

Bonus from book:  While she was playing by herself yesterday, I heard G discussing the Gir Jungle that is mentioned in the book.

Book reviews of children's books

I am always on the lookout for kid's books that reflect parts of our family - my Indian born husband, my midwestern, U.S. born self, and our daughter, midwestern-born, part Indian, part American, part Indian, part white.  If I see an author of a kid's book with an Indian sounding name, I check it out from the library without even reading it first.  Now that we're settled in a midwestern small town, it feels essential to bulk up the Indian part of our experience/selfhood as a family because the white, American side gets a lot of exposure and becomes the only normalized experience if we're not careful.  I am looking for books.  Books about Indian families, books that reflect multiracial/multiethnic families (whether or not one parent depicted is either Indian or white).  So far, most of the books with Indian familes have two Indian parents (which I recognize is the case for most kids of Indian parents).  My quest continues, and I figure if I can throw enough good literary influences at her, she'll develop a richer curiosity and experience than she otherwise would have.

So here goes. . .another blog.  Let's chat about kid's books.