Review: Diwali In My New Home
I received this book from the author in exchange of an honest review.
I am always interested in reading about other cultures, other holidays, other celebrations, and I am excited that we are getting more and more books with that. Like this one which is all about Diwali, which took place yesterday and the days before that. So I hope that everyone celebrating Diwali has had an amazing Diwali.
In this gorgeous picture book we meet a little girl named Priya! She is all ready to celebrate Diwali, normally this is a big big party for her with lights, decorations, and family, but what if you have moved to another country, a country without Diwali? There won’t be special decorations, no prep for the festival. I am guessing that this time Diwali fell in the month of November? Right after Halloween or a bit after it, that would explain why there is nothing of decorations, if Diwali had fallen (like this year) in October I would have thought the streets wouldn’t be dull and boring, haha, I know the US and I know that they are bonkers about Halloween and decorate an masse. I know that this is not the same as Diwali, but at least there would have been lights and fun things. Back to the story! We see that Priya is sad, but thankfully her mom is there making yummy food and getting everything ready for Diwali. They may be in a strange country, but Diwali is going to be celebrated! I loved seeing Priya become more happy with each day that passed, and I also love seeing neighbours come together and be willing to help out and be part of the celebrations. It was such a happy ending and I was just smiling and wishing I could be part (though probably not eating anything as I did some more research on the foods and a lot of things are with nuts), but I can at least chat, enjoy the lights, light a sparkler.
I loved that each page showed a new bit of Diwali. From cleaning the home, to making food, to praying, to welcoming guests, to lighting all the lights, it was so beautiful.
I love the extras at the end, some more information on Diwali + a glossary!
The art, well, as I said it is gorgeous. I really love the style + the colours used.
I would HIGHLY recommend this book to all. I am so happy that more books about Diwali are being published, it is such a wonderful festival/tradition.
4 thoughts on “Review: Diwali In My New Home”
This is so adorable. Diwali is such a festive time in India. It would be a tragedy for a little girl to not experience that. All the homes would have twinkling lights (especially kitschy ones because that is a hit among uncles and aunties). There are different lores for Dilwali in different part of India as well. The main theme, however, is the victory of good over evil. If you consider seasons, it happens usually about the time when winter is here. Gives families good excuse to deep clean their houses and get the winter wardrobe out. But the most important thing is the sweets and crackers. They are the heart and soul of Diwali. Kudos to Shachi Kaushik for writing this story. Great review. You brought some great insights.
Thank you! And thank you for the wonderful comment as well, always fun to get even more insight!
Also, there are many sweets without nuts but it will be hard to find anything without dairy because the best of our sweets are made with ghee ( clarified butter). Laddoos ( specially requested without nuts), Jalebi, Gulab Jamun, Rasagulla all can be made without nuts if you are curious.
Well, nuts will be the biggest problem. The party would have to be 100% free of nuts for me to have a good time. I will have to check out those sweets you mentioned and see if I can make any. It would be fun! Thank you so much!