Asian Indian Text Set

While I looked for books for my text set, I had a hard time finding children's literature that accurately portrayed the Indian culture. The books that I found were all written very well with accurate portrayals of the Indian culture and their lifestyles. Having as hard of a time finding children's literature for this underrepresented group, I realized that it is hard to put together a diverse library with a well rounded group of books when there are very few stories written about all of the different cultures. For my text set, I reviewed two picture books and to chapter books geared for young adults. The four books I used were: Shiva's Fire, In the Name of God, Here Comes Diwali! the Festival of Lights, and Sacred River: the Ganges of India.

The two chapter books I read were Shiva's Fire and In the Name of God. They had many differences and there were aspects of the books that they had in common. In Shiva's Fire, the main character, Parvati knows that she was born to dance. She is born into a life where both tragedy and luck prevail. She is asked to dance a sacred dance at a sacred event in the Indian culture and supports her family through devoting and committing herself to the strict and strenuous training for this sacred, traditional dance. In In the Name of God, the main character, Nadia is putting herself in risky situations to stand up for her political and religious views and beliefs. Her family is becoming Westernized while she is standing strong for who she is. Her cousin Fowzi inspires her to stand up for beliefs and political views. This story shows a strong, independent woman who is struggling with risky encounters as she tries to find herself and stand strong for what she believes in. Both of these novels that are geared for young adults share the fact that teenagers reading these stories can relate to them. Although these two women are from different countries and different cultures, students can see that they share common interests and struggles and that they go through the same things as they do at these ages.

The two picture books I read and reviewed described big customs and traditions that you see in the Indian culture. The author for Sacred River studied the customs that he so accurately portrays through his phenomenal illustrations and little text. Here Comes Diwali! was a book written by an Indian author that tells about the Indian holiday, Diwali. The text was very dull along with the illustrations. It did not grab the readers attention nor did it seem to accurately portray the Indian customs and traditions.

All four of my books were written by authors that had studied the Indian culture by living in those parts of the world. They experienced first hand the struggles, traditions, and customs of this very sacred and different culture. The text accurately portrayed the Indian traditions and customs through facts and historical and cultural settings.