This story is about a young girl, Arthi wanting to know more about the wooden dolls (bommalu) that her father makes. She learns that each of the bommalu has a story to tell. The exemplary dolls that these artisans create are considered heirlooms and are passed on proudly from generation to generation. (Grades K-2)
Highly Commended
My Incredible India
This vibrant nonfiction picture book takes young readers on an enchanting journey across India, showcasing the country’s rich cultural diversity, iconic landmarks, and natural wonders. Through lively illustrations and engaging prose, the book explores India’s varied traditions, languages, wildlife, and festivals, providing a window into everyday life. With each page offering a new discovery, readers are immersed in the sights, sounds, and colors of India, celebrating its complexity and charm. (Grades 2-5)
Enlightened
A fictionalized graphic telling of Prince Siddhartha. This fictionalized graphic novel retells the story of Prince Siddhartha, the boy who came to be known as Gautama Buddha. The story shares the stages of his life, his path to enlightenment and how he became The Enlightened One. From the moment the young boy won a marble game and lost his sword to use in practice, to the moment of enlightenment and the diffusion of his teachings, this story is a great foundation text for understanding the life of Buddha. (Grades 6-9)
All My Rage
The story chronicles the lives of Noor and Salahudin, close high school friends who share their Pakistani-American heritage. Their familial challenges unfold as Noor confronts an antagonistic uncle while Salahudin navigates his mother’s illness and father’s alcohol dependency. The novel thoughtfully delves into themes of family ties, trauma, grief, abuse, alcoholism, racism, kindness, forgiveness, and hope. (Grades 9-12)
Meet Me in Mumbai
A story about love and family that spans two generations – a connection that brings Ayesha as a visiting graduate student to the US, and Mira, adopted and raised by her moms in the US, to face each other. The narratives reveal how complexities in South Asian cultures about teen relationships, out-of-wedlock pregnancies become more fraught across differences in social class. (Grades 9-12)
The Katha Chest
Young Asiyah learns her family history through her grandmother’s chest of richly patterned katha quilts, hand-stitched from layers of repurposed, memory-laden, sari fabric. Asiyah’s tale is accompanied by wordless story panels that reveal their Bengali cultural history. These panels resemble a family photo album, reminiscent of Pattachitra, cloth-based narrative scroll paintings. (Preschool-Grade 3)
The Wise Fool: Fables from the Islamic World
Meet Mulla Nasruddin, a legendary character whose adventures and misadventures are enjoyed across the Islamic world. (Grade 5 & under)
Karma
Written in free verse poems in a diary format, this novel straddles two countries and the clash of Indian cultures in the tale of 15-year-old Maya. (Grade 6 & up)
The Grand Plan to Fix Everything
Eleven-year-old Dini loves movies, and so when she learns that her family is moving to India for two years, her devastation over leaving her best friend in Maryland is tempered by the possibility of meeting her favorite actress, Dolly Singh. (Grade 6 & up)
Beyond Bullets: A Photo Journal of Afghanistan
Award-winning photographer Rafal Gerszak spent a year embedded with the American troops in Afghanistan to bear witness to its people, culture, and the impact of war. (Grade 6 & above)