Home Is in Between

Reviewed by Paige Pagan

Review Source: Teaching for Change
Book Author: Mitali Perkins

Mitali Perkins’ words paired with Lavanya Naidu’s art aptly captures an immigrant’s exhausting reality of living in between two spaces and cultures in this picture book for early elementary children. Perkins says in her author’s note, “The space between cultures doesn’t have to be a barrier; for children who grow up there, it can become a threshold of gratitude to celebrate the best of many worlds,” (p. 33) which encompasses the essence of this story perfectly. This book proves that home is what you make it. Immigrant children may relate to Shanti’s crisis over feeling displaced and later, her comfort in forming her unique concept of home being in between India and the United States. Non-immigrant readers may learn how to be more empathetic and supportive of their immigrant friends.

The motif of “in between” was consistent throughout the narrative. On the cover, Shanti sits on a suitcase with both the Indian and U.S. flags on it, along with her grandmother’s home in their village in Bangla to her left and their new apartment in the United States to her right. There are also spreads where Shanti is traveling back and forth between remembering her old home and learning her new one and where she is caught in between the pages, contemplating where she’s from. While Shanti is intimidated by learning new currency, new manners, and a new language, she takes pride in later being able to read her Baba The Little Engine That Could in English, a nod to the resilience of immigrants, and help her mom at stores. In this way, Shanti forms not only her idea of home, but also her idea of selfhood through a fusion of her Bengali and U.S. culture.

I recommend this book for units on immigration and home.

Paige Pagan is a Social Justice Books Program Specialist at Teaching for Change.

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Home Is in Between by Mitali Perkins
on February 23, 2021
Genres: Asian American, Immigration and Emigration, South Asian
Pages: 40
Reading Level: Early Childhood, Grade K
ISBN: 9780374303679
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Also by this author: Between Us and Abuela, Rickshaw Girl

Publisher's Synopsis: In the timely yet timeless picture book Home Is in Between, critically acclaimed author Mitali Perkins and illustrator Lavanya Naidu describe the experience of navigating multiple cultures and embracing the complex but beautiful home in between.

Shanti misses the warm monsoon rains in India. Now in America, she watches fall leaves fly past her feet.
Still, her family’s apartment feels like a village: Mama cooking luchi, funny stories in Bangla, and Baba’s big laugh. But outside, everything is different – trick-or-treating, ballet class, and English books.

Back and forth, Shanti trudges between her two worlds. She remembers her village and learns her new town. She watches Bollywood movies at home and Hollywood movies with her friends. She is Indian. She is also American. How should she define home?