Holi

Rookie Read-About Holidays

by Uma Krishnaswami

This Rookie Read-About® Holidays book introduces kids to Holi, a Hindu festival that celebrates the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil. Colorful photos and simple text encourage children to read on their own as they learn about the meaning of Holi and how this exciting holiday is celebrated.

Genres: Picture Books, Nonfiction, Holiday, Cultural

32 pages, Library Binding

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Thomas Andrikus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holi is one of the festivals not celebrated by Hindus in Bali. Once, I had even thought that Holi is just an Indian abbreviation for "Holiday". Hence, I am unfamiliar with it. Here are a few things I've learned about Holi:

1. It is celebrated on full moon in March

2. The name Holi is taken from a wicked princess Holika who failed to kill her nephew. Apart from marking the beginning of spring, it reminds Hindus that good wins over evil.

3. People put bright red dots on each other's foreheads, called tika.

4. People toss coloured powder called gulal on everyone they see, even strangers. Some even use squirter called pichkari to spray coloured water on each other.

5. Gulal Gulal was once made from crushed flowers, seeds, and clay. But now it contains dyes and glitter too.

6. Some people visit the temple on Holi. Families gather to eat sweet (mithai), sing songs, and tell stories.

[Camille Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holi is an informational text discussing the holiday of Holi and how it is celebrated. Holi is a Hindu holiday. I love this book because it is very important to teach students at young age why it is a very festive holiday. This book allows the students to get an understanding of what is done in the holiday and what the colors mean. The book is appropriate and interesting for young children to read. The pictures are easy for the students to grasp and tell what the book will about without reading. The illustrations also can grab the students’ attention and allow them to predict the words of the story. The book is culturally relevant and also allows other cultures to participate.

[Ji · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an informational non-fiction book. The book says that Holi is a Hindu holiday and describes when Holi is celebrated and how it has started. The Holi is started from the Hindu story when a wicked princess named Holika tried to kill her good nephew, but he did not get burned on a bonfire because gods took Holika’s powers away instead. During Holi, people toss colored water at each other, share sweets, and promise to be a good neighbor. As a teacher, I will use this text to discuss and reflect when we get to promise to be a good neighbor to other people. Then I will let my students to write a page based on one of these questions to improve their writing skills and learn about morals. For example, I will ask “Do we have a special day that we get to make a promise to be a good neighbor, a child, or a student? Do you think we should have a special day to do that? It is necessary for us to have these days? Holi helps Hindu to remember that good always prevail evil; write why you think this statement is true or false.” This book is culturally relevant because it accurately represents their culture and oral traditions. Also, there is diversity represented within this cultural group; for example, there are people who are old and young, female and male, and rich and poor.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Holi is an information children’s book about the spring Hindu festival called Holi. The book is a source of information about customs and rituals regarding the celebration, Holi. From a Literacy stand point this book is a wonderful text-to-world resource to introduce traditional customs of the Indian culture. The book could be used as an interactive tool to discuss the celebrations of Holi vs. Easter; similar holidays from different countries with different rituals. The author is Uma Krishnaswami who wrote several other multicultural children’s books. The Hindu celebration Holi, recognizes the coming of spring and the triumph of good over evil. In March Indians clean their houses, wear white shirts and paint a bright red dot, tika, on their forehead. People celebrate the holiday by throwing colored paint and water, gulal, at each other. Afterward people go to the temple and eat a celebratory dinner. The celebration and traditions of the Hindu holiday Holi are similar to the American holiday Easter.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series is a good full-color introduction for children having questions about other faiths: "Why do they___?" It focuses both on the activities associated with a holiday, and on the basic spiritual context for the celebration.

[Rani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read about one of the most colorful celebrations on our planet.

[Elizabeth]

Of the 6 books in KitaabWorld's "Top Picks for Holi," my local library network only had one, so I went through the "Holī (Hindu festival) -- Juvenile literature." tag and got 4 additional books by authors whose names sounded like they were of Indian ancestry.

This is in the "Rookie Read-About® Holidays" series, and is clearly aimed at a younger audience. It felt TOO brief for me, like it moves too quickly to really retain any of the info, but I guess if you read it repeatedly the info will sink in more.

It includes pronunciations for various words, which is helpful. (It's because it's aimed at kids learning to read on their own, but I always appreciate pronunciation guides for non-English words in English books.)

Its storytelling erases the evil king altogether -- which is understandable for brevity, since the holiday is named for the wicked aunt, though I feel uncomfortable at making a woman the sole villain.