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My Saree
Divya adores her mother’s lovely sarees. Each one is unique. There are Kancheevaram silks, Bengali cottons, Banarasi brocades, and Rajasthani chiffons. They are parrot green, peacock blue, turmeric yellow, and lotus pink. Divya watches her amma (mother) carefully drape and fold the cloth into a beautiful saree. Divya dreams of the day when she can wear her own saree. Then, at Heritage Night at her school, students are to wear something that celebrates their culture and heritage. Divya is so excited, but her amma says that she has to be older to wear a saree and that she should wear the red silk skirt that her grandmother sent her for her birthday. She is heartbroken, but when Heritage Night arrives, Amma surprises her with a green and blue saree decorated with peacocks that she sewed just for Divya. The vibrant illustrations were created with pencil on paper with digital coloring. An author’s note, an illustrator’s note, and a glossary (with pronunciations) appear as back matter in this gorgeous picture book. mjw |
| Title: My Saree Author: Gita Varadarajan Illustrator: Archana Sreenivasan Publisher: Orchard Books, an imprint of Scholastic, Inc. Copyright: 2024 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-1-338-83414-7 Hardcover pages: 40 Age range: 4-8 Genre: Picture Book Author’s ethnicity: Indian Author’s residence: Princeton, New Jersey Illustrator’s ethnicity: Indian Illustrator’s residence: Bangalore, India Subjects: Culture, Dress, Fabrics, Heritage, Sarees, Self-discovery |
The Beautiful Layers Of Me
Once Upon A Diwali
Riya loves Diwali for the tasty treats called ladoos, but not for the dark night and the very loud fireworks. Mama says that Diwali is more than treats. She goes on to explain that it’s about the celebration of light over darkness and good over evil. Riya’s Papa decorates the house with lights and candles. Her sister makes rangoli, which are decorations of patterns made with powdered rice and colorful sand or flowers. Riya helps her. But she still is afraid of the darkness and the spooky, loud fireworks. So Mama tells the legend of why lights are used on Diwali. Riya listens and learns about Ram, the crown prince, who, with his wife and brother, was banished from his kingdom. There was a terrible battle. Ram won and returned to his kingdom on a path with glittering diyas (oil lamps) and glowing lights. Riya understands, becomes a bit braver, and asks to bring her own lantern to the celebration, just in case. Brightly colored cartoon-style artwork further distinguishes the storytelling. An author’s note, an illustrated glossary, a recipe for ladoos, and instructions for a Diwali paper diya craft are included as back matter. mjw |
| Title: Once Upon A Diwali Author: Anita Mishra Illustrator: Diah Chakraborty Publisher: Soaring Kite Books, LLC. Washington D.C. Copyright: 2024 Original Language: English ISBN: 978-958372-44-9 Hardcover pages: 32 Age range: 4-8 Genre: Picture Book Book setting: India Author’s ethnicity: Indian Author’s residence: El Paso, Texas Illustrator’s ethnicity: Indian Illustrator’s residence: Assam, India Subjects: Celebrations, Differences, Diversity, Fireworks, Folktales, Holidays. Religions, Sweets |
The Paper Bridge
Music Of The Mountains: A Story In Pakistan
The Yellow Road
The Cities Of The Future
The Color Of Your Skin
Vega and her friend Alex are drawing pictures at an art table at school. Alex asks for the skin-colored pencil. Vega asks if he means the color of her skin or the color of his. Maybe he means the beautiful caramel brown skin color of his neighbor Vincent or the light apple shade of the new girl. With curiosity and creativity, they explore the diversity of skin colors of the people around them. They discover that skin color has many shades and that colors are like hugs: the more the better. The illustrations are brightly colored and rich. The book is printed on “stone paper,” a special paper made of limestone. The paper doesn’t come from cutting down trees, doesn’t use water, and doesn’t need chemical products. mjw |
| Title: The Color Of Your Skin Author: Desiree Acevedo Illustrator: Silvia Alvarez Publisher: Cuento De Luz. Madrid, Spain Copyright: 2021 Original Language: Spanish Translator: Jon Brokenbrow Original Title: El color de tu piel ISBN: 978-84-19464-43-9 Paperback pages: 32 Age range: 3-7 Genre: Picture Book Author’s ethnicity: Spanish Author’s residence: Huelva, Spain Illustrator’s ethnicity: Honduran and Spanish Illustrator’s residence: Seville, Spain Subjects: Colors, Crayons, Diversity, Multi-colored, Multiculturalism, Paints, Pencils, Skin color, Uniqueness |
The Gray City
![]() Robin has moved to a new city where everything is gray – buildings, traffic, people, streets, her school, and even all the paint in a paint shop. She sets out in search of color. At school, she meets Alani, who hates “all this gray business.” Together, they use their detective skills to discover that the faceless Gray Works is responsible for the lack of color in the city. She and Alani sneak into the building and adjust the company’s controls to colorful. The Gray City’s colors had been hidden. Now it’s full of color. This imaginative story has eleven chapters with quite a bit of text for a picture book. The illustrations are masterful in this introduction to color theory, which is explained in the back matter. mjw |
| Title: The Gray City Author: Torben Kuhlmann Illustrator: Torben Kuhlmann Publisher: NorthSouth Books, Inc., New York Copyright: 2024 Original Language: German Translator: David Henry Wilson Original Title: Die graue Stadt Original Publisher: NordSud Verlag AG, Zurich, Switzerland Original Copyright: 2023 ISBN: 978-0-7358-4554-1 Hardcover pages: 64 Age range: 6-10 Genre: Picture Book Author’s ethnicity: German Author’s residence: Hamburg Illustrator’s ethnicity: German Illustrator’s residence: Hamburg Awards: 2019 Batchelder for Edison Subjects: Cities, Color, Color Theory, Discovery, Imagination, Libraries, Mystery, Science |












