#blogbookaday: Festival of Colors

Summary:  “Learn all about Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors, in this lush picture book from bestselling mother/son duo Surishtha Sehgal and Kabir Sehgal.

Spring is here, and it’s almost time for Holi, the Indian Festival of Colors. Siblings Mintoo and Chintoo are busy gathering flowers to make into colorful powders to toss during the festival. And when at last the big day comes, they gather with their friends, family, and neighbors for a vibrant celebration of fresh starts, friendship, forgiveness, and, of course, fun!” (Taken from Goodreads)

Review: This is a simple concept book of colors wrapped in the cultural festival of Holi, celebrated in the spring symbolizing “inclusiveness, new beginnings and the triumph of good over evil.” I loved the simple text and the bright illustrations that really tie this book together and I loved that all the neighbors looked different as well – wearing different clothes, head coverings, different skin color and more. I think that people in western culture don’t often think about people individually, but as countries as whole being the same. The U.S. is different depending on your location and within your own town there are a lot of differences – and the same can be said for Mintoo and Chintoo’s community as well – diversity exists in both small and large communities around the world. I think my favorite spread was at the festival where you can see the community coming together to celebrate with bright colors all around them – what a great way to create a sense of inclusion and caring.

Personal Reaction: With a large Indian population in my community, I love seeing books that reflect their culture and are simple enough to share with even our youngest patrons. This will be a popular title in our library and I’m so glad that books like this exist to provide mirrors for the kids in my community.

Title: Festival of Colors
Author: Kabir Sehgal & Surishtha Sehgal
Illustrator: Vashti Harrison
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Publication Date: January 30, 2018

This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!