Inspiring Young Readers
posted on 19 Oct 2025
One Diwali Day by Dev Kothari, illustrated by Aditi Anand
It is pleasing to see that this is the third in the series of books focussing on festivals from a range of cultures. Given the ever growing number of books about the different ways of celebrating Christmas, this one about a different festival will hopefully be included on the bookshelves of all education settings. Diwali is celebrated by Hindus, Jains, Sikhs and some Buddhists throughout the world to mark the symbolic victory of light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance and good over evil. These positive messages chime with what is taught in most UK schools. But in my view, many books about the festival emphasise the religious story and customs at the expense of why it is also a good reason to gather and party together with friends and family. This one provides a mix of cultural information that include ways to celebrate and share food plus why it feels good to come together as a community.
The first thing to point out is the warmth and softness of the beautiful illustrations, from the family members shown eating, making and cuddling the cat on the front cover, to the profusion of beautiful images throughout the story. The text is minimal with carefully chosen, repetitive vocabulary that is the key to a read aloud book aimed at younger children. When I recently read this with a group of four and five year olds, they were keen to join in with the refrain by the main character, Ronak:
‘Arre, arre! No, no! Now what will I do?
And then:
‘So, I let my worry fly away’
Both phrases also lend themselves to suitable gestures which is always a bonus. But despite the growing excitement as everyone arrives at the house, Ronak is worried that her big sister Dida still hasn’t come to join the party. We lingered over the colourful illustrations of the traditional food set out on the table and talked about some of the unfamiliar but delicious sounding words:
‘There are laddoos and pedas. Shakarparas and rasgullas. Chaklis and chivda. And gulab jamuns too.’
We were delighted to see that a recipe for pedas ( a popular Diwali sweet) was included at the end of the story and decided to give it a try as soon as possible! Afterwards, we looked up all the other food names and hoped to have a tasting session very soon – next time I think I will take a selection to try straight after reading.
The children also loved the double page spread that showed the fireworks display, although one perceptive child pointed out that the cat should have been kept inside the house. This led to lots of lively discussion about their own experiences of fireworks displays with a significant number who weren’t that keen on the noise and smoky atmosphere. Later we also liked how the multiple diva lamps lit up the inside of the cosy house to show the happy family sharing food together and the way in which the story ended on a calm and positive note.
I strongly recommend this heart warming picture book that will inspire lots of interesting art work after reading. It is published by Walker Books just in time for this year’s Diwali festival on October 20th. You can find it in your local independent bookshop who will order a copy if not already on their shelves.
Karen Argent
October 2025
