Reviews

Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy by Archana Sreenivasan, Tara Dairman

thelibrarykart's review against another edition

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4.0

Beautiful illustrations. Great depiction of how pastoral families live and care for their animals in places with extreme dry and wet weather.

roxanne_can_read's review against another edition

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5.0

Two characters living in the same country experiencing the two extremes of weather. I loved how they came together in the end.

shayemiller's review against another edition

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4.0

What a beautiful book comparing and contrasting two young Indian children, raised in very different climates. One is not better than the other, just different. Lovely artwork drawn either in panels or with one landscape scene hovering over the other. The illustrations for this book was drawn in pencil and painted digitally.

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marzipanbabies's review

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hopeful informative inspiring lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

tashrow's review

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5.0

In India, two families must respond to the weather they are experiencing. One nomadic family, lives in the desert and must move in search of water. The other family, who live in a village, are experiencing a monsoon and the flooding it brings. Both families are multi-generational, both have children learning things, helping out and packing up. One family deals with blowing sand and sandstorms while the other has leaking roofs and puddles on the floor. Soon both start traveling in search of safety, one on camels and the other in a boat. Together, they reach the same mountain where they both find safety as well as each other.

In her author’s note, Dairman speaks about the Rabari people who inspired her families in the picture book. She captures their changing lifestyle from purely nomadic life to moving into villages. She also shows how weather can be threatening for both lifestyles. The writing is simple and just right for the smallest of children. Throughout the book, there are opposites in the two lifestyles, but there are some things that are quite similar.

The illustrations in this picture book are based on the illustrator’s personal experience in visiting a Rabari settlement. The detailed textiles fill the pages with color and pattern. Meanwhile the contrast of the warm golds of the desert and the cool blues of the monsoon work particularly well as they cross the pages. It’s a very effective way to view the two ways of life.

A glimpse of India’s nomadic people allows us all to see how weather impacts lives. Appropriate for ages 2-4.

debnanceatreaderbuzz's review

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3.0

A girl in the desert.

A boy in a monsoon.

Two parallel but very different stories are told of children facing problems in the weather. The illustrations are lovely, with gentle text, and with a satisfying resolution.

gardenjess's review

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5.0

Beautifully illustrated - and simply written this is a very cool compare and contrast of a girl in a desert and a boy in a monsoon who live in very different climates, but both live in India. I enjoyed how they contrasted the differences by showing the similarities.