Monsoon Afternoon - Hardcover

Sheth, Kashmira

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1561454559 ISBN 13: 9781561454556

Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company, 2008

Synopsis

It is monsoon season in India. Outside, dark clouds roll in and the rain starts to fall. As animals scatter to find cover, a young boy and his dadaji (grandfather) head out into the rainy weather.
The two sail paper boats. They watch the peacocks dance in the rain, just as the colorful birds did when Dadaji was a boy. They pick mangoes and Dadaji lifts up his grandson so he can swing on the roots of the banyan tree, just as Dadaji did when he was young. Finally, when the two return home, hot tea and a loving family are waiting.
Author Kashmira Sheth’s affectionate, sensitive story provides a look into Indian life and the shared moments and memories that bind generations together. Illustrator Yoshiko Jaeggi’s colorful and fanciful watercolor illustrations recreate the lush Indian landscape during monsoon season, and capture the bond of love that unites a grandfather and his grandson.

About this title

About the Author

Kashmira Sheth was born in India and came to the US when she was seventeen to attend Iowa State University, where she received a BS in microbiology. She is the author of several picture books, middle grade, and young adult novels. Sheth teaches at Pine Manor College, in their Solstice MFA in Creative Writing Program. She lives in Wisconsin.

Yoshiko Jaeggi was trained in her native Japan at the Osaka Municipal Institute of Fine Art and has illustrated several children’s books. She lives in Maryland.

From Booklist

In this picture book from the creators of My Dadima Wears a Sari (2007), a young boy in India wants to play outside in a monsoon shower, but everyone in his family is too busy to join him. At last, the boy’s dadaji (grandfather) is free for fun, and together they sail toy boats in courtyard tubs. After the rain subsides, the two stroll through the streets, and Dadaji reminisces fondly about the monsoons of his youth. The cyclical rhythms of the rain season echo the story’s larger themes of time’s passage and the links between generations: Dadaji remembers swinging on the same village banyan tree where the boy plays, for example, and as he listens to his grandfather’s stories, the boy begins to imagine his own future: “Will monsoon come when I become a dadaji?” Jaeggi’s atmospheric watercolors nicely translate the sensory details in the words. From the boy’s cozy home during the storm to the sunny, rain-refreshed streets, the scenes give a strong sense of everyday life in the boy’s Indian community, as well as the sweet bond between grandfather and grandson. Children of all backgrounds will easily recognize both the boy’s delight in the dramatic rainstorm and the warm intergenerational relationship. In a lengthy, personal author’s note, Sheth shares her own childhood memories of monsoons. Those seeking picture books specifically about Indian culture will find more suggestions in the Read-alikes: India in Picture Books. Preschool-Grade 2. --Gillian Engberg

About this edition

• Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 1561454559
• ISBN 13: 9781561454556
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Jaeggi Yoshiko