Celebrating India with a Book Review — Asha and the Spirit Bird

Today is an auspicious day as Joe Biden becomes president of the United States, and Kamala Devi Harris becomes vice-president, the first woman to do so, the first Asian American to do so and the first African American to do so! (She was born to an Indian mother and Jamaican father).

I too am from a multi-cultural family. My italian mother gifted me this wonderful book for Christmas. I took a photo of it on a scarf from my indian aunt. ​To celebrate diversity I am leaving a book review of this wonderful middle-grade book, Asha and the Spirit Bird by Jasbinder Bilan.

Set in India, at the foothills of the Himalayas, young Asha goes on a quest to find her father. The journey is filled with peril and also beauty. Wonderful descriptions of nature and foods of India tease the senses as Asha walks, walks and walks. The peril of wild animals and dangerous people keeps the tension high. I enjoyed the magical guidance of the spirit of her grandmother, her nanijee, in bird form.