Keeping Traditions Alive, Wherever You Are!

Join us in-store to meet SIMRAN JEET SINGH, author of A Vaisakhi to Remember, and VEERA HIRANANDANI, author of Many Things At Once. Both of these award-winning writers are celebrating new picture books that explore themes of identity, belonging, and cultural heritage, and they will discuss these ideas and more in their discussion together. 

About the book A Vaisakhi to Remember: 

When a Sikh family moves from their village in India to a faraway city on the other side of the world, a girl yearns for her grandmother's hugs, her goat Ramu, and the lush fields filled with yellow flowers and wheat. How will they celebrate Vaisakhi in her new and unfamiliar surroundings? But the girl soon discovers soothing touchstones—a special outfit, a trip to gurdwara, delicious food, and new friends—that make gathering for Vaisakhi still the best day of all. With gorgeous, intricate illustrations by debut children’s book illustrator Japneet Kaur, this touching story from SIMRAN JEET SINGH shows us that while life changes, home is where we build community and carry traditions forward.

About the Author SIMRAN JEET SINGH: 

SIMRAN JEET SINGH is the executive director of the Aspen Institute's Religion & Society Program and the author of the national bestseller The Light We Give (Riverhead, 2022). He is also the author of the award-winning picture book Fauja Singh Keeps Going (Kokila, 2020), which was named a Best Book of 2020 by National Public Radio and the New York Public Library, and has been featured on numerous outlets, including CNN, BBC, Runner's World, and TODAY.com.

About the Book Many Things At Once:

Based on the author's own family history, this moving story is about a young girl from two different backgrounds. The girl’s mother tells her stories about her mother, a Jewish seamstress in Brooklyn, New York. She lived in a tiny two-bedroom apartment and sewed wedding dresses shimmering in satin and lace.

Her father tells stories of his mother, the girl’s other grandmother, who liked to cook bubbling dal on a coal stove in Pakistan. They tell stories about how both sides came to America, and how, eventually, her parents met on a warm summer evening in Poughkeepsie.

Sometimes the girl feels as if she's the “only one like me.” But one day when she spots a butterfly in her yard, she realizes it’s okay to be different—no two butterflies are alike, after all. It’s okay to feel alone sometimes, but also happy and proud. It’s okay to feel-- and be-- many things at once.

About the Author VEERA HIRANANDANI:

VEERA HIRANANDANI is the award-winning author of several books for young people including, most recently, her picture book, Many Things at Once, and her middle-grade novel, Amil and The After, a follow-up to her previous Newbery Honor-winning, The Night Diary. Her middle-grade historical novel, How to Find What You're Not Looking For, received the 2022 Sydney Taylor Book Award and the New-York Historical Society Children's Book Prize among other accolades. She earned her MFA in fiction writing at Sarah Lawrence College. A former book editor at Simon & Schuster, she's now a faculty member with the MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts. 

Saturday, April 12th at 2pm at Our 17th St Store!