[DiverseKidLit] A Hindu and Jewish Wedding in Picturebooks “Sona And The Wedding Game” and “The Market Wedding”

Myra here.

Welcome to #DiverseKidLit ! Please join us in sharing your diverse children’s book links and resources, as well as visiting other links to find great suggestions and recommendations.

Did you miss celebrating Multicultural Children’s Book Day on January 27th? Never fear! You can check out all the highlights of the Twitter party and conversation, as well as check out 100s of diverse book recommendations here.

What Is #DiverseKidLit?

Diverse Children’s Books is a book-sharing meme designed to promote the reading and writing of children’s books that feature diverse characters. This community embraces all kinds of diversity including (and certainly not limited to) diverse, inclusive, multicultural, and global books for children of all backgrounds.

We encourage everyone who shares to support this blogging community by visiting and leaving comments for at least three others. Please also consider following the hosts on at least one of their social media outlets. Spread the word using #diversekidlit and/or adding our button to your site and your diverse posts.

We hope this community serves as a resource for parents, teachers, librarians, publishers, and authors! Our next linkup will be Saturday, March 3rd and the first Saturday of each month.

Most Clicked Post from Last Time

The most-clicked post from the previous #diversekidlit was my link up of Worm Loves Worm! Oohlala! This makes me so happy!

Social and Emotional Learning Bookshelf

We have just launched our Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Bookshelf – which continues to be a work in progress because it is a massive project that will evolve as more books find us.

At the moment, there are already over 500 multicultural/ international picturebook titles that deal with self awareness (self and family, identity, spirituality, self-efficacy) and self management (overcoming fears, dealing with loss and grief, persistence and pursuit of dreams, creativity and imagination) for you all to enjoy. Please do check it out.

Our theme this January – March has to do with love and how much more apt can these two picturebooks be with wedding celebrations that depict specific cultural traditions.

---

Sona And The Wedding Game

Written by: Kashmira Sheth Illustrated by: Yoshiko Jaeggi
Published by: Peachtree Publishers (2015) ISBN: 1561457353 (ISBN13: 9781561457359) 
Borrowed from Jurong West Public Library. Book photos taken by me. 

It is the first time that Sona is attending an Indian wedding, with her elder sister as the bride. While immensely excited about the festivities, she is also somewhat annoyed by her little cousin, Vishal, who “thinks he knows everything” primarily because he has attended a lot of Indian weddings, compared to Sona who is a newbie at all this.

Aside from learning about face and hand painting, Sona discovered that as the younger sister of the bride, she has a special role to play. It is a tradition in Hindu weddings for the bride’s sister to steal the groom’s shoes which is tightly guarded by the groom’s younger brother.

As explained by Sona’s grandmother, the groom would then bargain with Sona to get his shoes back: “It’s a way for our families to get to know each other.” I really like how the author made use of the younger cousin and the grandmother to convey the distinct cultural practices in a traditional Hindu wedding. Even the significance of the couple’s prayer to Lord Ganesh was explained beautifully:

Apparently, the entire universe – the rivers and mountains, planets and stars, sun and moon are invited to attend and take part in this lovely wedding. Whether or not Sona did manage to steal the groom’s shoes, and what she got for it in exchange, I shall leave for you to discover.

I also appreciated the detailed two-paged Author’s Note at the end that provided more information as to what inspired the Author to write this story, and how wedding traditions vary from one region in India to another, and among Indian families too. This is a good introduction to how wedding is celebrated across different cultures, with an understanding that there is also diversity/heterogeneity even within the same culture.

---

The Market Wedding

Written by: Cary Fagan Illustrated by: Regolo Ricci
Published by: Tundra Books, 2000 ISBN: 0887764924 (ISBN13: 9780887764929) Literary Awards: Canadian Jewish Book Award for Best Children’s Book World Storytelling Award, A Governor General’s Award Finalist (Illustration), A Sydney Taylor Honor Book.
Borrowed from the Jurong West Public Library. Book photos taken by me. 

Morris and Minnie met in Kensington Market. While Morris sells fish, Minnie sells hats from a cart. They caught each other’s eye when they got suddenly mixed up, with Morris crying out for “Fresh hats” out of the lake, and Minnie started calling out “Latest fish! Straight from Paris!” And thus, a romance is born.

As most romances go, a wedding is planned soon enough. While both lead simple lives, Morris is determined to give Minnie the best wedding ever – from invitations written in gold, to hiring the famous Casa Loma Orchestra to play the music, to the ceremony in the synagogue officiated by the rabbi, and the three main courses, sherbet, and cakes for the reception.

Morris justifies using up all their savings for their once-in-a-lifetime wedding by anticipating the many gifts that they are bound to receive from the friends who will be attending their wedding. Surely, with such a grand celebration, their friends would also be providing the most lavish gifts. However, to the newly-wed’s chagrin and huge disappointment, not one of their friends showed up – not in the synagogue, not in the reception.

When they reached home, terribly disappointed, they were greeted by their friends who explained that they were too embarrassed to attend such a grand celebration without clothes to wear, plus they felt that their gifts weren’t good enough, hence, they decided to not come at all. What happened afterwards, I shall leave for you to discover.

I enjoyed reading this story and paying closer attention to the details of the lush art. It is also a sobering reminder of that which is truly of value during wedding celebrations – over and above the pomp and pageantry.

#DiverseKidLit is Hosted by:

Katie @ The Logonauts
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest

Becky @ Franticmommmy
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram

Bethany @ Biracial Bookworms
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Goodreads

Carolina @ La Clase de Sra. DuFault
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Google+

Gauri @ Kitaab World
an online bookstore for South Asian children’s books, toys and games
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram

Gayle Swift, Author of ABC, Adoption & Me
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Google+

Marjorie @ Mirrors Windows Doors
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest

Mia @ Pragmatic Mom
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram

Myra @ Gathering Books
Blog / Twitter / Facebook / Pinterest / Instagram / Goodreads

Shoumi Sen, Author of Toddler Diaries
Blog / Twitter / Facebook

Want to be notified when the next #diversekidlit linkup goes live? Click here to join the mailing list. Interested in joining as a host or an occasional co-host? Contact katie at thelogonauts.com.

(Never participated in a linkup before? Please click here for a more detailed step-by-step.)

Get #DiverseKidLit Recommendations on Pinterest!

Our Pinterest board highlights a wide range of amazing posts and resources for Diverse Children’s Books. Please consider following the board for even more great books!

Share Your Link Below

#LitWorld2018GB Update: 12 of 40 – Canada (setting for The Market Wedding is in Toronto, Canada) and USA (Sona and the Wedding Game).