The Girl Who Loved To Sing, by Lavanya Karthik
To know me is to know that my biggest pet peeve is kids not knowing anything about their own country and culture but being able to wax eloquently about the rest of the world. Ask my kids about Indian singers and I can literally hear crickets! I plant books like this one around the house so they will imbibe bits and bobs of India that gets lost in the larger scheme of things.
This is the second book in the #Dreamer series and is about famous Pandvani performer and trailblazer Teejan Bai. She forged a path and a name for herself when women from her community were not allowed to sing or perform. With steely determination and single minded dedication to her craft she convinces her grandfather to teach her the ancient art form of Pandvani. She fights against her village, her family, and even extreme poverty to learn and perfect the art form and performs around the world, earning a name for herself. How's that for an inspiring story?
The story by @_lavanyakarthik_ is peppered with short sentences and local words to lend authenticity and forces the largely urban reader to imagine what life must be like for Teejan Bai. The brilliance lies in the illustrations - fiery red, bold, and heavily inspired by Bhil artists. This book will leave its mark on you long after you are done reading it.
Both my kids (9&5) read the book and they both were moved by it in their own way. Giggles (9) began looking up Pandvani music and what it meant and Gurgles (5) began looking for patterns in the illustrations -- her long hair braid, thatched huts, and torans. And that's how we spent an evening with the book. I count it as a huge win 🙂.
#motherofreaders #motherofreadersrecommends #bookrecommendations #bookrecommendationsforkids #booksthatteach #booksthatmatter #mustreadbooks #mustreadchildrensbooks #picturebooksofinstagram #picturebookoftheday #picturebooksforkids #raisingreaderstogether #raisingareader #raisingreaders #bookstagrammer #booksofinstagram #booksforindianchildren #indianauthors #booksonindianculture #booksonindianhistory #booksonindianart
https://www.instagram.com/p/CRnmor0nPWo/?utm_medium=share_sheet
Comments
Post a Comment