Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Extreme weather affects two children's lives in very different ways and shows how the power of nature can bring us together.
One girl. One boy. Their lives couldn't be more different.
While she turns her shoulder to sandstorms and blistering winds, he cuffs his pants when heavy rains begin to fall.
As the weather becomes more severe, their families and animals must flee to safety--and their destination shows that they might be more alike than they seem.
The journeys of these two children experiencing weather extremes in India highlight the power of nature and the resilience of the the human spirit.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Beginning with "White sand./ Green field," side-by-side spreads and horizontally split pages compare the lives of two children in northwest India one from Gujarat, one from Rajasthan. Traditionally pastoralists, an author's note explains, the Rabari people are moving away from nomadic life, a change that "brings many changes." A girl lives amid desert tents, gathering wood and water, while a boy lives in a lowland village and attends school. Short rhyming lines by Dairman (The Great Hibernation) reveal what happens to each group when the weather turns nasty: on top of a split page, there's a sandstorm ("Sand blows in"), on the bottom, a monsoon ("flooding floor"). The girl takes cover in the family's tent "Tie the flap!" while the boy ducks into his rapidly flooding house: "Seal the door!" When conditions grow unbearable, both groups trek to higher, greener ground and there, their families meet. Digitally painted spreads by Sreenivasan (Diwali) feature angular graphic forms and jewel-toned hues. The colors intensify as the weather worsens: the light from the desert sandstorm turns everything orange, and the blues and greens of monsoon country deepen. While introducing the diversity of the Indian subcontinent through thoughtful juxtaposition, this collaboration also confronts the threats that extreme weather poses to various ways of life. Ages 4 8.
