Review: Feast of Peas

Title: Feast of Peas
Author: Kashmira Sheth
Illustrator: Jeffrey Ebbeler
Publisher: Peachtree
Format: Picture book
Review copy: Provided by publisher
Availability: On shelves now

Summary: Hard-working Jiva might not be the only one anticipating a delicious feast of peas from his garden.

Every morning, Jiva works in his garden until the sun turns as red as a bride's sari. He plants peas and beans, potatoes and tomatoes, eggplants and okra in his vegetable patch. When his friend Ruvji admires his plants Jiva sings,

Plump peas, sweet peas
Lined- up-in-the-shell peas. 
Peas to munch, peas to crunch 
I want a feast of peas for lunch.

But each time Jiva is ready to pick the peas for his feast, they're already gone. What has happened? 

From the award-winning author and illustrator team who created Tiger in My Soup, this original story set in India features a deliciously amusing mystery about gardening, anticipation, hard work, and generosity.

Review: Peas were never my favorite when I was growing up, but if this book had existed then, perhaps my opinion would have been more favorable. Jiva and Ruvji could likely convince most anyone that peas are one of the best foods in existence. Jiva rhapsodizes about them repeatedly in his song and Ruvji continues to makes eyes at the peas and repeat that "peas are delicious."

The story is a bit of a trickster tale and will be a delight for readers of all ages. The peas are the treasure Jiva and Ruvji would both like to enjoy, but things do not go as planned for either of the friends. Between the text and especially the vivid and lively illustrations, readers can collect clues and make some inferences about the mystery.

Those peas must have looked spectacular because both of the friends kept smacking their lips. Quite honestly, I love that phrase. It has a smacking sound to it and is super fun to read aloud as is Jiva's bouncy song.

The illustrations provide an abundance of information for the story with the setting, but also with the animals. Young readers will have a great time finding a wide variety of critters throughout and the ghost is especially fun. The ghost is slightly creepy, but not too scary since it has a sense of humor and performs a fanciful dance.

Recommendation: This is another wonderful tale from Kashmira Sheth and I'm excited to add it to our library. It will be a humorous and engaging read aloud and I'd recommend it highly for any library serving young readers. It would also be perfect for any home library. Feast of Peas would be great paired with Tiger in My Soup or any number of books featuring gardens and animals like If You Plant a Seed by Kadir Nelson or Ka's Garden/Kab Lub Vaj by Maggie McHugh and Dr. Bee Lo.

Extra: 
Teacher's Guide

Review: Nina Soni, Former Best Friend

Title: Nina Soni, Former Best Friend
Author: Kashmira Sheth
Illustrator: Jenn Kocsmiersky
Publisher: Peachtree
Pages: 128
Availability: October 1, 2019
Review copy: ARC via publisher

Summary: The first title in a new series featuring a lovable, distractible Indian-American girl and her family and friends. Nina tried as hard as she could, but still somehow she forgot about her school project. Fortunately, a class lesson about Alexander Fleming suggests how she might make a great discovery--and thus a great project! But with little sister Kavita's birthday party right around the corner, and her longtime friendship with Jay on the rocks, Nina has a lot to keep track of.

Readers are sure to relate to author Kashmira Sheth's endearing Nina Soni and her slightly scatter-brained efforts to manage her life with lists, definitions, and real-life math problems.

Review:
Reasons to love Nina Soni:

1. She has a great sense of humor
2. She has unique ideas
3. She talks with her hands--mostly because she's passionate about things
4. She cares a lot about her family and her best friend
5. She's an excellent list maker

Nina Soni has a friendship she's worried about and a homework project that she simply must finish so her stress level is up a bit. Even under pressure though, she's a lot of fun. These are types of problems many readers will have experienced. Young people are also likely to enjoy her somewhat bouncy conversational style.

Teachers will want to seek out this first book in the Nina Soni series. The school project is a personal narrative and teachers are always looking for literature that will provide models for that. This story even models what could work for such an assignment. It's also a fantastic example of how versatile and helpful lists can be. This would be a great read aloud in the lower grades. This was a quick read that will be excellent for readers looking for an amusing chapter book that doesn't have high-stakes. 

Recommendation: Nina Soni and her escapades will be the perfect stories to hand to those looking for early chapter books that are fun and engaging. I'd recommend this as a read aloud and as independent reading for those starting to read short chapter books.

A Visit With Kashmira Sheth

Our school had a wonderful visit with Kashmira Sheth recently. She shared about being an author, showed us how to fold paper boats, told us a bit about India, and even read a bit from her next book. It is an early chapter book called The No Dogs Allowed Club and it really had us laughing. I can't wait until it comes out this fall.

Another fun thing was that she also let us wear some of the clothing she brought. I never thought I would get to wear a sari.

Her picture books, My Dadima Wears a Sari and Monsoon Summer are wonderful glimpses into families that care for one another.

Her middle grade novels are each very unique. Blue Jasmine was her first published book. I loved it the first time I read it.  I think I am on my third time through it now as I read it with my fifth grade lunch book group.   I am still enjoying the many layers of the book and learning about the experience of moving to a new country and learning about a new culture.  Our book group has had a lot of fun discussing Seema (the main character) and her many new experiences.

The second book I read was Keeping Corner which is a very moving look into India in the 1940s. The cultural expectations for women were very different at the time.  It is amazing to think about what situations a young woman might have been faced with and how some women and the men in their lives worked to change that.

Her book Boys Without Names is a look at the working lives of some young boys in Mumbai. It is an eye opening look at children in the workforce. It is heartbreaking, but still hopeful.

I am really thankful that the PTO sponsored her visit with us. I have been so happy to share Kashmira Sheth's work with my students and we have had some amazing discussions around her books.  We are so glad she shared her books and herself with us!