Home is In Between
Today is #weneeddiversebooksday and I can think of no better book to feature than this gem written by Mitali Perkins and illustrated by Lavanya Naidu. Home is In Between is a story about a little girl making America her new home. As Shanti learns and adapts with her new experiences with snow, macaroni & cheese, and ballet in the outside world, she and her family still cherish their old country in their apartment with old photos, yummy luchi, and dancing Kathak. Sometimes going back and forth between two worlds can feel confusing, but Shanti learns that for her, home is in between because she belongs to both places.
I had the immense pleasure of meeting Mitali last summer. Home is In Between is the story of her childhood. Mitali and her family moved to the United States from the villages of Bengal when she was seven. Now she is an award-winning author and loves teaching other immigrant children that their ability to "code switch" between their two cultures is actually a superpower. "It’s like learning a new language—kids are faster and better at it than grown-ups. And if we work at it as kids, we keep some ability to crack cultural codes for the rest of our lives," Mitali writes. This is the beauty of diversity, the ability to appreciate what is good about many cultures. Of course we need this! There is good stuff all around the world!
Food is an excellent example of how diverse perspectives can make things better. So many cultures eat some kind of bread, from naan to frybread to tortillas to pitas. There are corn and gluten-free breads, wheat or rice breads. Talk with your kids and students about their experiences and brainstorm. What would a global bakery look like and what would be your favorite thing to order from it? What is one thing you'd really like to try? The opposite of diversity is uniformity, everything being the same. Can you imagine always having the same thing every single day? If you choose a cheeseburger, you could never have pizza again! Or tacos! Thank goodness for diversity! Thank goodness for diverse books!