Lights for Gita

Gita #1

by Rachna Gilmore, Alice Priestley (Illustrator)

Gita has recently moved to America from India, and she is looking forward to celebrating Divali -- her favorite holiday -- with her family. She has invited some of her new friends from school to join in the festivities, but a winter storm puts a damper on her plans. Just as Gita decides she hates her new home, events take another turn. Beautifully illustrated with warm, radiant paintings.

Genres: Picture Books, Asian Literature, Fiction, Childrens, Cultural, Religion, Spirituality

24 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1994

About the author

Rachna Gilmore is the best-selling, critically acclaimed Governor General’s Award winning author of numerous books with multiple honours and awards. Her publications include picture books, early readers, middle grade and young adult novels, as well as adult fiction.
Rachna’s books are sold internationally with translations in French, Danish, German, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, Bengali, Chinese as well as several other languages. A skilled and experienced presenter, Rachna gives inumerable readings and workshops in schools, libraries and conferences across the country as well as internationally.
Born in India, Rachna has lived in London, England and Prince Edward Island. She now lives in Ottawa where she continues to plark (play, work, lark) at dreaming up weird and wonder-filled tales.

http://www.rachnagilmore.ca/bio.html

Reviews

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 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.

[Rose Rosetree · Rating 5 out of 5]

Right from the start we learn that this picture book will have two main subjects:

* Adorable little Gita (Sensitively drawn, and beautiful.)
* Divali, the annual Hindu festival of lights, held in the period from October to November. This religious holiday is particularly associated with Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. Note: An alternate transliteration for the name of this sacred celebration is Diwali.

I love this story. I'm also so delighted with how Rachna Gilmore works in background info about Divali, just enough info, in child-sized bites. Such as how:

Grandmother had told them stories of Prince Ram and his wife Sita and of their homecoming on Divali.

A LITTLE CONTEXT HERE, PLEASE.

Goodreaders, Divali is not a secular (or political) reason for fireworks, like the Fourth of July in America, or Bonfire Night in England. This is a religious holiday. That story of Rama and Sita comes from the Ramayana -- as sacred to Hindus as Easter is to Catholics and Protestants, as sacred as the New Testament.

WHEN IS THE HIGHLIGHT OF THIS BOOK, FOR ME?
WHEN MUMMY REMINDS GITA OF THE MEANING OF THIS HOLIDAY

Goodreaders, I'll leave it to you to find the author's eloquent words. It's one of the reasons why I'd call this a book about RELIGION and SPIRITUALITY in a soul-stirring way.

And yes, I shelve this book under GROWTH as well. When we enter into a religious or spiritual celebration of sacredness, and we do it to learn wisdom -- or even grow closer to God -- yes! That's very different from so many picture books that I've reviewed here so far, totally secular books about religious holidays.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with that. How many children care more about the spiritual or religious meaning of a holiday when it promises family, food, decorations, and a delightful change of pace?

However, it seems to me that, for those of us who care about the significance of this beautiful sacred holiday, whether we're Hindus or (like me) not, our lives can be elevated through books like this one. Although, so far, I've found few children's books that attempt to do such a thing.

Here's to more of them!

P.S. I APPRECIATE THE HAPPY ENDING, TOO

[Annabel Peet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disappointed with the prospect of a rainy Diwali in her new home, away from her family in New Delhi, Gita doesn't know how to celebrate without the fireworks that she's used to. Her mother persuades her to light the first diya by explaining that sometimes we have to create the light in the darkness instead of relying on other things, like the Diwali fireworks, to do it for us. As Gita lights the first diya, the lights cut out, leaving the world lit entirely by the family's diyas. With a Bengali translation, this book creates a wonderful view into the experiences of a young Hindu girl and her initial struggle with being away form everything she is used to on an important day.

[Erica Pakluck · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows how Diwali is celebrated, as well as the struggles faced by many immigrants to a new country. However, it doesn't tell a lot about Gita's past and where she is from or the holiday itself, and I think that is very important if we are going to take the time to write and read a culturally diverse book. The illustrations are lovely.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting because I learned about a holiday, Divali, a festival of lights. This is a story about a little girl who has moved to the US from India and misses one of her favorite holidays. They filled diyas with mustard oil. Her party is sort of ruined by a winter storm, but 1 friend manages to make it and it turns out just fine with the sparkling ice from the storm helping her celebrate.

[Kira Nerys · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn't adore it, but I didn't know what Divali was and I definitely want to read approximately three more picture books about it.

[Kristen Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

How accurate are representations of language, culture, setting, and relationships?
The language of the story is English and the setting is in America. The culture of Gita, the main character, is Indian. Gita and her family had recently emigrated to the US from India so she experiences a bit of a culture shock.

• Are characters fully realized and shown to have agency?
The characters of this story were not fully realized. We learn about Gita's background a bit but it is not known why she moves to the US. We also meet her parents and one of her new American friends in this story.

• How is difference constructed, and what does it mean for a character’s belonging in an unequal world?
Difference is constructed through the story's setting. Gita's home really influences her new lifestyle because she sees so many differences from India to America. Even the Divali (festival of lights), Gita's favorite holiday, is lost when she moves to the rainy American city.

• How are characters’ lives and perspectives interrelated and interdependent? How are these interconnections shown in text and image?
Gita's family moves to the city in the US and suddenly her family and support system declines due to distance. Then, when the night of Divali arrives, Gita's family's lights and power go out, leaving her completely disappointed and homesick.

• How and by whom are perceptions of difference transformed, and with what implications for future relations?
When one of Gita's friends arrives at her apartment, her attitude shifts immediately. Instead of missing her old traditions and friends in India, she starts to focus on her new tradition of Divali in America with her new American friend.

[Sonam_ranani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gilmore, R., & Priestley, A. (1994). Lights for Gita. Gardiner, Me.: Tilbury House.

Subgroup: Traditions
Genre: Fiction
Topics: Indian culture, Indian traditions, Diwali, lights, Goddess Lakshmi, home, diyas, fireworks
Synopsis: This fiction book is about Gita and how she is coping from moving away from New Dehli. She has a new home and it’s Diwali time. Diwali is when Goddess Lakshmi brings prosperity and happiness into everyone’s home. Gita is angered by moving away from New Dehli because she is use to the festivities that happen over there. While Gita heads to school, her mother and father try to reassure her that they will have lights around the house and fireworks. When she reaches home the weather takes the turn for the worst and Gita is upset that she won’t have any fireworks to celebrate Diwali, and her friends can’t come over due to the weather. Gita’s parents try to explain to her the significance of Diwali by lighting diyas around the house and illuminating as much light as they can. When the power cuts out and the lights reflect all over the room Gita realizes she has beaten the darkness and Goddess Lakshmi will be coming to bless her home.

[Elizabeth]

I like this idea -- of an Indian child having moved with her family to somewhere that's cold etc. at Diwali time and using that framing device to both create a story and educate about Diwali while you go. It makes the book more accessible to a broader set of readers -- and I think education is often much more effective when wrapped in a story.

(I don't love that the author is white -- though apparently she lived in India for a while.)

I do like the line, "Divali is really about filling the darkness with light. Fireworks can't do it for us. We must do it ourselves."

I don't love the illustrations -- they felt a little bit too gray and/or harsh. Some of the indoor scenes with the diyas are really lovely warm glowing, but on the whole I was disappointed.

[JustOneMoreBook.com · Rating 5 out of 5]

This carefully crafted tale of homesickness and hope combines the universal experience of long-awaited plans foiled by weather with the grief of a young girl pining for her far off home. This book leaves us with the powerful insight that its up to each of us to fill our darkness with light.

Other books mentioned:

* Roses For Gita
* A Gift For Gita

Listen to our chat about this book on our JustOneMoreBook.com Children's Book Podcast:

http://www.justonemorebook.com/2007/0...

[Cara Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gita looks forward to celebrating Divali, the Festival of Lights, even though her family has recently moved. Will the cold and gloomy weather outside and her longing for the way things used to be ruin the Divali celebration? Gita learns the Festival of Lights begins in the hearts of those who celebrate it. The text also includes a brief explanation of what Divali is and the illustrations, done in colored pencil?, are expressive and colorful.

[Puja Patel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about a young Indian girl named Gita who just moved from India and is missing a very auspicious day back home. She feels that she is missing out while people back home are celebrating. Students who come from a different culture would feel the same way when their festival is not celebrated in school. This would be a good book to read as they could relate to Gita at this time.

[Jack Sharpe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice book about a girl celebrating Diwali away from home. It features lots of information about the festival and could be helpful to use when teaching about this. There are probably better books about Diwali, but the dual language is a good feature to allow more opportunities for learning.

[Samantha · Rating 5 out of 5]

After a young girl moves from India to America for her fathers job she reminisces about the holiday Divali. This is a great book about how a family celebrates cultural traditions in their new home in America.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gita and her family are preparing to celebrate their first Divali in the USA when an ice storm interferes with their plans. At first Gita is extremely disappointed, but with the help of her family she learns about the true spirit of the holiday.