Anisha Kacker

Ravi, a young Indian-American boy, finds that he cannot summon up much enthusiasm for his family's annual celebration of Diwali - the Hindu Festival of Lights, marking the triumph of Prince Rama over the demon king Ravana - in this seasonal picture-book. Missing his older brother Shankar, who is away at college, Ravi delays putting up the Diwali lights, because this is something the two always did together. Fortunately, Shankar arrives in time to make Diwali a very happy surprise...

Published in 1993, Ravi's Diwali Surprise is the second holiday picture-book I have read from Cleveland based publisher Modern Curriculum Press' Multicultural Celebrations series, following upon Ruth Suyenaga's Obon. Author Anisha Kacker and illustrator Kusum Ohri were both born in India, but had immigrated to the United States by the time of publication. Neither appears to have worked on any other picture-books. I found the story here engaging enough, although Kacker's narrative sometimes felt a little too descriptive - Ravi did this, Ravi felt that - in ways that didn't evoke a strong sense of fellow-feeling in me. The accompanying artwork from Ohri was colorful, but not especially to my taste, aesthetically speaking. I'm glad to have read this one, as picture-books about Diwali are still fairly uncommon here in the states, and I would recommend this one to picture-book readers seeking such stories, but I would also recommend titles like Vashanti Rahaman's Divali Rose and Rachna Gilmore's Lights for Gita over this one.… (mer)