Diwali Books

Its a great book and worth the money.
I hope the writer does more books like this simple for kids to understand.

I really am pleased how it approaches its subject matter. Most children's books about international holidays are too technical and long to be used as a read aloud. This book can be useful and provide useful information. If a student wants more they can read a more complex book later. It also helps include an ESOL child's holiday in class, even young kids.

I you have Indian students in your class or teach about international holidays, don't forget to learn about Diwali. It is very interesting and exciting!

This book shows the story of Diwali in home school and wider settings. Very good in helping children to understand some of the diversity in our society.

Several of the teachers at our culturally diverse Montessori preschool liked this book enough to order it for their classrooms. The pictures are bright and show children preparing for and celebrating Diwali. Some of the Hindu teachers found the book's "Britain-centric" text a little disturbing and considered the treatment of Diwali very superficial. On this last point, perhaps a superficial treatment is to be expected in a book that is basically a brief first introduction to the holiday. We like this book as a starting point for discussion of the holiday that is celebrated by many of our students.

This style of writing is so easy for a young child to enjoy. Books like these make it a bit easier to keep our culture alive thru our children.

Diwali, the festival of lights, is probably the most celebrated ethnic Hindu festival around the world. In Meenal Pandya's Here Comes Diwali: The Festival Of Lights, young readers explore the customs and traditions associated with this festival beginning when the family begins cleaning the house, through a five day journey. Now in a completely revised and expanded second edition, Meenal Pandya's colorfully illustrated picturebook story is enhanced with easy recipes and fun crafts and activities designed for children. Here Comes Diwali is a welcome and unique contribution to any personal, school, and community library multicultural collection.

'Here Comes Diwali' was a huge disappointment.
The illustrations, which are mono-chromatic and poorly executed take up 6 entire pages of the 21 pages allotted to narration.
The text is written unevenly, shifts between first and third person and provides only minimal information about the traditions of Diwali. For example, "The kitchen smells so..o..o. good. Mom is making lots of sweets and snacks."(sic)
The four-page 'crafts' section consists of very vague instructions for making rangoli, wicks and diyas--with no illustrations. These are the diya instructions: "Using clay have each child make a small container or a bowl by using his or her hand as a base."(sic)
There are also a glossary, word-search and four recipes included which I will not test as I am returning this book.

Instead of this title I would recommend:
Diwali by Chris Deshpande (bright photographs and informative text)
Lights for Gita by Rachna Gilmore (a fictional story)
Ravi's Diwali Surprise (a fictional story with a few photographs and, again, weak illustration)
Rama and the Demon King by Jessica Souhami (lushly illustrated children's version of the Ramayana)

The bright, cheerful jacket of "Here Comes Diwali" belies a dull and uninspiring interior.

A short,excellent book .Conveys all major aspects of the most popular festival of Gujaratis,Diwali.Well illustrated.A must for all Gujaratis.Could have done better with more pages.

A must for all Indians living abroad with children born or being brought up outside of India. Simple words, big pictures. Gives the idea of lights, fireworks, sweets that are all a part of the big festival. I am born in the US, as are my children. I have never been in India during Diwali, and this book helped even me to picture what the day must be like. My one recommendation is that it could have been a little longer and a little more detailed. However, it surely has captured my twin preschoolers' imaginations, so the brevity of the book seems to work for that age.

Author Deborah Heiligman has embarked on an ambitious "Holidays Around the World Series" with National Geographic

Aimed at 6-9 year old children the series is rich in photographs from around the world and lower on textual explanations, letting the pictures speak for themselves.

The pictures are amazing and well laid out. For someone who celebrates Diwali, the pictures will seem incomplete because there are so many more aspects than can be represented in a 32 page book. But for someone who has no idea about Diwali, this is a very good introduction.

The book indicates that the Taj Mahal is a "muslim mosque" which is quite a stretch. The Taj Mahal complex does include a mosque but the iconic Taj Mahal is not a mosque. I may white it out, I hate errors.

The photographs are lovely; but I am concerned the other facts may be erroneous too.

As an Indian mom who purchased the book to help her children understand the festival and associated traditions I was very disappointed. It didn't work for my 5 yr old and 4 yr old.