Diwali, or Dipawali, is India's biggest and most important holiday of the year. The festival gets its name from the row (avali) of clay lamps (deepa) that Indians traditionally light outside their homes to symbolize the inner light that protects from spiritual darkness. In addition to the lighting of these small lamps, Diwali is generally celebrated with fireworks and feasting--sweets are an especially big thing!
If you'd like to explore the culture and traditions of India and Indian Americans a little more, check out one of the books below.
Love, Hate & Other Filters, by Samira Ahmed
Seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz wants “to go to film school and be the first Indian American to win an Oscar,” then “meet the One and fall in big, heart-bursting love,” but her parents rather she attend college closer to home and marry a Muslim boy of their choosing. But Ahmed’s heartfelt debut is not just about Maya’s career and romance prospects: when a suicide bomber—who is mistakenly identified as sharing Maya’s last name—detonates a bomb inside a federal building in a nearby city, killing himself in the process, her community retaliates against her and her family.
This title is available in print in the library and electronically on the Sora app and SoraApp.com.
A Girl Like That, by Tanaz Bhathena
Sixteen-year-old Zarin Wadia is many things: a bright and vivacious student, an orphan, a risk taker. She’s also the kind of girl that parents warn their kids to stay away from: a troublemaker whose many romances are the subject of endless gossip at school. You don't want to get involved with a girl like that, they say. So how is it that eighteen-year-old Porus Dumasia has only ever had eyes for her? And how did Zarin and Porus end up dead in a car together, crashed on the side of a highway in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia? When the religious police arrive on the scene, everything everyone thought they knew about Zarin is questioned. And as her story is pieced together, told through multiple perspectives, it becomes clear that she was far more than just a girl like that.
This title is available in print in the library.
There's Something About Sweetie, by Sandhya Menon
Ashish Patel didn’t know love could be so...sucky. After being dumped by his ex-girlfriend, his mojo goes AWOL. Even worse, his parents are annoyingly, smugly confident they could find him a better match. So, in a moment of weakness, Ash challenges them to set him up.
The Patels insist Ashish date an Indian-American girl - under contract. Per subclause 1(a), he’ll be taking his date on “fun” excursions like visiting the Hindu temple and his eccentric Gita Auntie. Kill him now. How is this ever going to work?
Sweetie Nair is many things: a formidable track athlete who can outrun most people in California, a loyal friend, a shower-singing champion. Oh, and she’s also fat. To Sweetie’s traditional parents, this last detail is the kiss of death.
Sweetie loves her parents, but she’s so tired of being told she’s lacking because she’s fat. She decides it’s time to kick off the Sassy Sweetie Project, where she’ll show the world (and herself) what she’s really made of.
Ashish and Sweetie both have something to prove. But with each date they realize there’s an unexpected magic growing between them. Can they find their true selves without losing each other?
This title is available in print in the library.
Mariam Sharma Hit the Road, by Sheba Karim
This trippy, funny, and beautifully written book is the first South Asian YA road trip novel, that quintessentially American genre of literature. In Mariam Sharma, three Muslim American teenagers—sensitive Mariam, exuberant and beautiful Ghazala, wry and religious (but closeted) Umar—drive from New Jersey to New Orleans, after a scandalous photograph of Ghazala appears on Times Square billboard. Mariam Sharma combines all the elements of a satisfying road trip novel: a quest to find out more about Mariam’s estranged father, a bit of armchair travel as the trio traverse the southern United States and a coming-of-age tale. All three characters are changed by their travels in ways both large and small.
This book is available in print in the library.
If I Tell You the Truth, by Jasmin Kaur
Perfect for fans of Elizabeth Acevedo and Rupi Kaur, this heartrending story told in prose and poetry weaves together the stories of a mother and daughter’s lives.
Kiran flees her home in Punjab for a fresh start in Canada after a sexual assault leaves her pregnant. But overstaying her visa and living undocumented brings its own perils for both her and her daughter, Sahaara.
Sahaara would do anything to protect her mother. When she learns the truth about Kiran’s past, she feels compelled to seek justice - even if it means challenging a powerful and dangerous man.
This title is available as an electronic and audio book on the Sora App and SoraApp.com.
Bruised, by Tanya Boteju
Orphan Daya Wijesinghe, 18, avoids confronting the emotional pain of losing her parents in a car accident that she survived by inflicting physical pain on herself: she copes by reveling in her skateboarding bruises. When Daya is introduced to roller derby — a sport in which opportunities to bruise are countless — she finally discovers a place of deep healing. Boteju’s novel, her second, is colorful and brutal, and a celebration of love and self-acceptance.
This title is available in print in the library.
Copyright notice: All book blurbs are publicly available through their books' publishers.
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