American Desi

by Jyoti Rajan Gopal, Supriya Kelkar (Illustrator)

Overview

For fans of Eyes That Kiss in the Corners, this poetic story filled with expressive art empowers South Asian children living in the United States and celebrates being bicultural.

Pavadais in bright gold colors
Jersey shirts and faded jeans
Swapping, changing, feeling seen...
Which is the color of me?

A young girl longs to know where she fits in: Is she American? Or is she Indian? Does she have to pick or can she be both? With bright, joyful rhyme, and paired with an immersive art style using American and Indian fabrics, American Desi celebrates the experiences of young children growing up first and second generation Indian American: straddling the two cultural worlds they belong to, embracing all they love of both worlds and refusing to be limited by either.

This story is a powerful tribute to the joy of being South Asian and for every reader who aspires to bridge their worlds with grace, grit, and confidence.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316705301
Publisher:	Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Publication date:	06/21/2022
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	626,815
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 10.30(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jyoti Rajan Gopal is a kindergarten teacher, writer, and mom who loves taking any opportunity to break out her Bollywood moves and hip-hop grooves. She grew up in Thailand, Indonesia, Myanmar, India, and China and now lives in New York City, so she knows what it feels like to be caught between multiple cultures. She chooses to embrace all her wondrous colors! This is her debut children’s book.
 
Supriya Kelkar grew up in the Midwest, where she learned Hindi as a child by watching three Hindi movies a week. Supriya is a screenwriter who has worked on the writing teams for several Hindi films and one Hollywood feature. She is the author of Bindu’s Bindis; American as Paneer Pie; and Strong as Fire, Fierce as Flame, among others. This is her debut illustrated book. She invites you to visit her online at www.supriyakelkar.com.

Editorial Reviews

10/03/2022

In rhyming text, Rajan Gopal’s picture book debut smartly explores the duality of one child’s bicultural American and Indian identity. Energetic mixed-media collage art by Kelkar (Bindu’s Bindis) makes good use of each spread’s layout, showing the child narrator comfortably straddling two worlds—one visualized on either side of the book’s gutter. On the verso, the child, portrayed with spectacles and long black hair, is shown barefoot in a temple (“Flowers, incense fill the air”) and, on the recto, sneaker-clad on swings (“Wearing shoes without a care”). Other spreads compare and contrast watching cricket and American football, and executing both “Bollywood moves” and “hip-hop grooves,” among other experiences. Though each double image ends with a probing either/or question—“Which is the color of me?”—the initially disparate-seeming experiences build to a moment of cohesion as the child pulls the threads of varying garments into their hands: “Gathering, holding in my hands/ The different colors of me.” Following this moment, fabrics, foods, and languages (“Hindi, Tamil twirl and swirl/ English drawls and twangs and flares”) appear together on the page, twining layers of identity as the protagonist declares themself: “Blending, merging, taking wing/ The glorious colors of me.” Ages 4–8. (June)

Publishers Weekly

* "A perfect read-aloud for young children or an independent read for early elementary grades… What a celebration of self! This is a joyful book, for every age."—School Library Journal

"This captures the duality of a child who has strong claims to her Indian heritage and equally strong ties to the culture she is absorbing in the U.S….Sumptuous illustrations…provide the visual metaphor for the many threads that weave together harmoniously in the girl’s community."—Booklist

"In rhyming text, Rajan Gopal’s picture book debut smartly explores the duality of one child’s bicultural American and Indian identity."—Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher

★ 07/01/2022

K-Gr 4—"Which is the color of me?" is the question at the center of this picture book in which a young girl explores her dual identity of Indian and American. Told lyrically, with bold adjectives that portray a universe of dancing, feeling, words, spices, food, bindis, bangles, fabrics, moods, and more, Gopal examines how young children make sense of their world when it crosses cultures through multiple sensory experiences. This book can evoke conversations of religion, race, and culture as the book discusses Hinduism, Indian dress, and baseball, among other topics. The language is crisp, specific, and concise, making it a perfect read-aloud for young children or an independent read for early elementary grades. The vibrant illustrations swirl with the colors of a marketplace, where there might be too many choices, but this small girl can handle it. What a celebration of self! This is a joyful book, for every age. VERDICT This rhythmic picture book articulates a common experience for young children who straddle two cultures. Highly recommended.—Tracey S. Hodges

School Library Journal