Children's Books discussion

I hope we can grow this thread into a list of great books about Holi. Please post reviews of your favorite Holi books below. Thank you!

Please see also this thread with discussion of March holidays, including Holi:
https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

Holi
This is a very simple book for parents to read with their very young children or beginning readers to practice reading on their own. It's a very basic overview of Holi. I learned it is a Hindu festival, it starts with the full moon and lasts for two days. "We" remember a special boy. His bad aunt Holika put him in a fire but he lived. "We" celebrate good winning over evil. There are special foods eaten and each color has a meaning.

This book is informative enough for adults who don't know anything about Holi and want a place to start. The photographs are full page and very bright and colorful. Check Hoopla to see if you can get this one. The huge text makes it easy to read.

Elaborating on that, I also read Holi Hai!

A family I assume in India is preparing to celebrate Holi. Grandma enlists the family to make gulal the colors they splash and smear on Holi day to celebrate spring. They each draw a color out of a bag but Gauri doesn't like the color she's chosen. I didn't like her behavior but it's relatable and I found out there's a reason for her pouting. It's so Grandma can share a legend about Holi and provide the moral of the story: love is stronger than anger.

The illustrations are digital cartoon style kids are used to these days. They're colorful and explanatory. The family makes colored powders from nature, celebrates Holi by lighting a bonfire, telling stories, throwing the powders, eating special foods and drinks. In this story they're celebrating alone. Sign of the times?

The backmatter includes About the Festival note with more detailed information. I appreciated the note and learned a lot. There's also a glossary and a make your own gulal from nature.

Kathryn this would be a good homeschool activity.

I found more Holi books on Hoopla.

Holi Hai to all those celebrating today!

Festival of Colors
Beautiful! Love how it's soothing yet vibrant -- gathering flowers, making the powder... the it feels so peaceful yet there's this underlying anticipation... then the explosion of colors and excitement at the end. My oldest kept going back to the book and looking at the illustrations.

From the back matter:
"Holi is the Indian festival of colors, celebrated during spring, when new colors appear in nature. It symbolizes inclusiveness, new beginnings, and the triumph of good over evil."


Holi Hai!I've enjoyed many of Chitra Soundar's other books and was so excited when I saw she'd written a picture book about Holi (especially as so few picture books about the holiday exist, at least for US audiences). From the back matter, "Holi, the festival of colors, is celebrated across India to mark the onset of spring. In the south of India, this festival is celebrated by some communities as the festival of love. There are many origin stories for this festival, one of which, the story of Prahlada, is explained in this book."

I'm happy to say the book did not disappoint. Soundar does a commendable job of conveying not only the way in which a family today celebrates Holi (with the food, family togetherness and, of course, the joyous celebration of throwing colors on one another to welcome spring) with the religious background of the holiday (in this case, grandfather tells "one of the legends of Holi" about the evil demoness Holika and her nephew Prahlada, who was kind and good to everyone, his love defeating Holika and her evil plans). It is no small feat to combine these in a children's picture book for young audiences and, while perhaps adults may be left with wanting further details, I think it is done very well for the target audience. Many children may be able to identify with the young girl in the story, Gauri, and how she is initially disappointed that she did not draw her favorite color from the hat and instead has to make red powder for the Holi celebration. Yet, through the story grandfather shares, she remembers that anger doesn't bring joy. "When we celebrate Holi tomorrow, we will have love in our hearts for everyone, just like Prahlada did," Mom says. And Gauri learns to let go of her upset feelings and, instead, focus on all the wonderful things she likes that are the color red and on the fun she and her family will have when they throw all the colors together on one another.

The accompanying illustrations are vivid and joyful. My youngest loved the part where they are using big squirt tubes to spray the colors on one another and he also liked seeing all the foods spread out for the big feast. The back matter explains what each food means and also what flowers and plants from nature can be used to make the various colors for Holi (beets for purple, turmeric for yellow, pomegranate for red, red cabbage for blue, spinach and mint leaves for green). This reminded us of another spring holiday in which we take beautiful colors from nature and turn something white into something vibrantly colored to welcome spring -- Easter and dying Easter eggs!

We also watched this video featuring a group of children explaining their holiday of Holi and a bit about the Hindu religion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7NZE...
I appreciate that the video reminds audiences that Holi is celebrated around the world, not just in India, and that you don't have to be Hindu to participate.

QNPoohBear wrote: "Kathryn this would be a good homeschool activity.."

Yes, we really enjoyed Holi Hai! :-)

I also noted the symbolism of colors in the spring festival. That makes sense because spring festivals, including Easter, do symbolize rebirth and renewal. Colorful flowers come back in the spring.

QNPoohBear wrote: "I also noted the symbolism of colors in the spring festival. That makes sense because spring festivals, including Easter, do symbolize rebirth and renewal. Colorful flowers come back in the spring."

I was so happy my youngest made that connection :-)