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Perkins, Mitali

Home Is in Between

40 pp. | Farrar | February, 2021 | Trade ISBN 978-0-374-30367-9 $18.99 | Ebook ISBN 978-0-374-38944-4 $10.99
(2) K-3 Illustrated by Lavanya Naidu. Shanti says goodbye to the village that is her home, a place of "warm monsoon rains" and "green palm trees" and extended family; she arrives in a town of "cold rain and orange and yellow leaves." There is a new language, new currency, new manners, new holidays. It's a challenge, but the young girl begins to learn a new way of life while still actively preserving the one she knew by continuing traditions at home with her parents. On some spreads, Shanti runs back and forth "remembering the village. Learning the town. Again and again. In Between." Eventually, she gets tired of the constant push and pull ("Where was she from? Village? Town?") and decides to make her home right there, in between cultures ("She was good at making anywhere feel like home"). Shanti's enthusiasm for both her home village and her new town offers a refreshing view of multiculturalism as a source of a rich life. Perkins's prose is rhythmic and controlled, with just enough detail to immerse readers in Shanti's experience and follow her satisfying journey. Naidu's cartoonlike illustrations, in a warm color palette, are energetic and full of emotional expression, adding layers to the story and making Shanti an endearing and memorable character.
Reviewer: Autumn Allen | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2021

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