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Searching... Salem Main Library | J ILLUST Das, A. | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
"Remarkable. The sparse, simple story feels timeless and universal, and the illustrations are as important to telling the tale as is the text. This is a book to be lingered over and savored." -- Debbie Stoller, BUST
" 'I want to be brave, and different.' Das's memoir spills over the boundaries and scope of typical picture books, and her honesty and empathy are instantly palpable."-- Publishers Weekly
" Das debuts with illustrations done in a distinctive Indian style paired to a brief meditative text--part memoir, part artist's statement, part rumination--on women's personal journeys." -- Kirkus
On a train journey to a large city, a young woman notices a very poor girl. Who is she? Where is she going? What does her future hold? Hope Is a Girl Selling Fruit is a gentle, reflective account of a young woman's thoughts and feelings as she comes into contact with the larger world. The rich imagery takes the story into another realm, inviting the reader to interpret it at many levels. Young Indian artist Amrita Das pushes the boundaries of her traditional art to radical new ends as she muses on women's mobility, class, and choices.
Author Notes
Amrita Das is a young artist working within the Mithila style of folk painting. Mithila art originated with women in rural communities in the state of Bihar, India, who traditionally decorated the floors and walls of their homes with strong, traditional designs and symbols. Part of a new generation of Mithila artists who are pushing the boundaries of this art form to radical new ends, she lives in Bihar, India.
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 6 Up-Readers who pick up Das's debut title may find themselves in for a surprise. This is not a simple, linear story but rather a winding journey that reflects on life and its many complicated pieces. The author/artist describes a journey she once took and how that journey later became an inspiration for her art. Rather than focusing on the train's physical path, Das describes being emotionally moved by a poor girl traveling alone, heading toward what sheimagines as a limited future. Is the girl limited by her caste, her gender, or both? She provides no easy answers but further reflects on how these factors impacted her own life and art. The paintings are done in the Mithila tradition of folk art, which is described in some detail in the book's afterword. That this type of art, often done by women in the home, is used to question traditional women's roles adds another dimension to the book's overall impact. While this is a lovely picture book, it is one that will be best enjoyed by adults or teens who are questioning their own roles and the paths that they choose to follow.-Heather Webb, Worthington Libraries, OH (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Das's stiff, formalized Indian folk art spreads look a little like Egyptian tomb art or scenes painted on Greek urns. In gently tinted, intricately worked drawings, modern objects like computers and T-shirts are reduced to forms as simple as the trees and birds that frame them. Das, herself from straitened circumstances, reflects on her own life through encounters with two other young women. The first is a fellow passenger on a train journey. Something about the girl, her lonely look, and her want of food haunts Das ("There we all were," Das recalls with guilt about the rest of her companions on the train, "eating and talking"). The second girl, a fruit seller outside the train station where Das alights, is disabled, and two boys taunt her. But this girl is resilient, and she runs her fruit business unperturbed. In her, Das senses hope. Heartened, she charts her own future: "I want to be brave, and different." Das's memoir spills over the boundaries and scope of typical picture books, and her honesty and empathy are instantly palpable. Ages 10-up. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Das debuts with illustrations done in a distinctive Indian style paired to a brief meditative textpart memoir, part artist's statement, part ruminationon women's personal journeys. Sparked by a workshop assignment, the artist recalls her own childhood and, on a certain train trip, encounters with two young women. One travels alone to find work; the other, disabled but composed in the face of jeers, sells fruit from a cart. Centered on each spread (and sometimes losing a little in the gutters), the art, done in the Mithila folk tradition, offers large, often multiple scenes of, mostly, women in flat-perspective rural or urban settings, delineated in wavy lines and contrasting patterns. Though strongly stylized, the activities in which these figures are engaged are easy to identify, and they range from traditional farm or domestic work to riding a scooter, painting, using a computer keyboard or just sitting in quiet thought. "A girl's life is hard," Das reflects. "If you dream for a moment, you're asked why you're twiddling your thumbs.No one lets you forget that you're born a girl, not a boy." Still, she takes heart from the two chance-met women and ends with: "I want to be brave, and different." "We're all in this together," Das writes, "lost, but not quite." Older, Western children and teens may well feel they've found an unexpected comrade. (afterword on the art) (Picture book. 11-16)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.