In this heartwarming graphic novel debut, Nidhi Chanani weaves a tale about the hardship and self-discovery that is born from juggling two cultures and two worlds.
Pashmina
India
Materials from India
The Serpent’s Secrets
On the morning of her twelfth birthday, Kiranmala is just a regular sixth grader living in Parsippany, New Jersey . . . until her parents mysteriously vanish and a drooling rakkhosh demon slams through her kitchen, determined to eat her alive. Turns out there might be some truth to her parents’ fantastical stories-like how Kiranmala is a real Indian princess and how she comes from a secret place not of this world.
Buddha
Leaving the palace where he had been sheltered from a prediction that destined him to be a holy man, Prince Siddhartha sees for the first time the suffering in the world, and begins the journey that transforms him into the Buddha.
Mohandas Gandhi
Sets the life and campaign of nonviolence of the great Indian leader against the backdrop of the last days of the British Empire and the concurrent unrest in South Africa and India.
Festival of Colors
Sibilings Chintoo and Mintoo collect flowers and press the petals into a fine powder as they prepare for Holi, the Indian springtime Festival of Colors. Includes author’s note.
The Secret Kingdom
The incredible story of the world’s largest visionary environment: the Rock Garden of Chandigarh, kept secret by outsider artist Nek Chand for fifteen years.
The Secret Kingdom has been discussed in My Take/Your Take for July 2021.
The Library Of Fates
After losing everything when her father’s kingdom is brutally and suddenly taken over, sixteen-year-old Princess Amrita flees the royal palace with her companion, the seer and former slave Thala, and together they hope to find the legendary Library of All Things, where they can access the stories of their lives and their loved ones, change their future, and save the kingdom.
Ahimsa
When her mother is jailed for being one of Gandhi’s freedom fighters, ten-year-old Anjali overcomes her own prejudices and continues her mother’s social reform work, befriending Untouchable children and working to integrate her school.
Outside In
In the jungle outside the growing city of Chandigarh, twelve-year-old street child Ram discovers a hidden rock garden, befriends its creator–a factory worked named Nek–and tries to save Nek’s garden when it is threatened with destruction.
Outside In was featured in WOW Currents Reclaiming Social Emotional Learning with Children’s Literature, Part II.
I Am Gandhi
As a young man in India, Gandhi saw firsthand how people were treated unfairly. Refusing to accept injustice, he came up with a brilliant way to fight back through quiet, peaceful protest. He took his methods with him from South Africa back to India, where he led a nonviolent revolution that freed his country from British rule. Through his calm, steady heroism, Gandhi changed everything for India and inspired civil rights movements all over the world, proving that the smallest of us can be the most powerful.