Published by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux

Summary:  Shanti leaves her village (in India) to go to her new town (in the United States).  in the village, she enjoys the food, language, and traditions; in town, she learns a new language, tries new foods, and makes new friends.  It’s exciting to have new experiences, comforting to fall back on the old ones, and sometimes exhausting to travel between the two.  Finally, she needs a rest, and she takes one in the in-between that bridges the two worlds.  Refreshed, she realizes she can make any place feel like home, including that space between her two cultures.  Includes an author’s note about her experiences that inspired Shanti’s story and a glossary of Bangla words.  40 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  There are many books that tell kids’ immigration stories, but this one more than most captures the experience of living in two cultures, both the difficult and the valuable aspects.

Cons:  One of my pet peeves: the glossary is on the back end papers, which means approximately 30% of it was covered up by the taped-on dust jacket of my library copy of the book.