Archie Celebrates Diwali

PreS-Gr 1–Archie, short for Archana, has invited a few friends to her family’s Diwali celebration. She feels nervous that they will think her traditions are weird. Archie becomes even more nervous when a storm knocks out the power. But though she apologizes for the spicy food, her friends love the traditional dishes. Their interest leads Archie to share one of the holiday’s origin stories. The power returns, the storm blows over, and everyone enjoys dancing and setting off firecrackers together. Bold colors reflect the decorations of Diwali celebrations, while lights are emphasized with smudges and glows. The use of chiaroscuro conveys the holiday’s theme of light and good overcoming darkness and evil. Bengali words are used with plenty of context to decipher their meanings (and are explicitly defined in a glossary). Other back matter includes more specific information about the origins of Diwali and how it is observed, and a recipe for making diya (Diwali candles). The narrative is a bit clunky at points, wedging in a superfluous detail here and leaving out a transition there; still, it’s an effective primer on the holiday that also communicates the mix of excitement and anxiety experienced by children sharing cultural practices with friends who have different customs.