Lights for Gita

Gita missed everything about her old home in New Dehli, from the warmth of her extended family, to the glorious fireworks set off every year in honor of Divali, the Hindu Festival of Lights. How could Canada, with its dark and rainy November days, ever be home, or provide the right setting for this important celebration? Despite these dark thoughts, Gita was looking forward to her first Canadian Divali, which she hoped to share with five of her new classmates. But when the freezing rain and ice prevent her friends from attending, and a power outage plunges her apartment building into darkness, it seems as if her fears have been proved correct: Divali is ruined! Or is it...?

With a simple story that effectively communicates a young girl's show more sense of dislocation, after her family moves to a new country, appealing illustrations that capture the emotional ups and downs of the tale, and an important lesson (delivered in a non-didactic fashion) about the true meaning of Divali, Lights for Gita is a wonderful little book. I highly recommend it to any young reader (or any adult looking for titles for their young reader) who is interested in stories that explore the immigrant experience, or the celebration of Divali. show less

Lights for Gita is a book about a girl who moves to America from New Delhi, and it is during the time of Divali for her Hindus culture and it takes place in November. Gita compares how it would have been if she was still in New Delhi and how many lights would be about to celebrate Divali "the festival of lights", and how dreary it is during that time of year in America where she is living now because of her father's job. They end up trying the celebrate Divali, and Gita doesn't think that it is going to be the same celebration. But in the end it ends up being an even more special celebration with having an ice storm and the lights that shin in the darkness from the candles lit.

This book is great to teach about traditions and how even show more though kids move to new places, they can still keep and share their traditions in their new countries. show less