This month's online issue of Papertigers.org spotlights book awards, and naturally, those Asian-Pacific books that have won them. To that end, they have posted a nice review of Romina's Rangoli, written by Malathi Michelle Iyengar.
"Celebrating the richness of growing up biracial, the story does a good job of pointing out the similarities shared between Romina's two cultures. "Chutney is a lot like salsa," she concludes after watching her dad select and mix all the ingredients for his chutney recipe - an observation that goes well beyond cuisine."Even better is a personal essay written by Malathi herself discussing her biracial heritage and how it has affected her outlook on the world around her, and on her writing. She says:
"When writing Romina's Rangoli, I struggled with wanting to make the story simple enough to engage and entertain very small children, while at the same time trying NOT to promote the kind of simplistic thinking that reduces "culture" to food and holidays - i.e., Romina is Indian and Mexican, so that means she makes rangoli designs and papel picado! I have often wondered whether Romina's craft project isn't too pat, too simple of an ending. But in a society that still tells us, most of the time, to "Check only one box," the very fact that we multi-ethnic folks actually exist is news to many children. Hopefully, as children get older, they will begin to explore with intellectual rigor the subtle complexities of what "culture" means in people's lives, and how various cultural influences converge in family life."
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