This graphic novel is incredibly lovely. Chanani illustrates one teen girl's search for identity and family, with a touch of magic. The main character is a second-generation Indian-American daughter of a single mother. Her mother has been quiet about her own past, and so when a blessed Pashmina gives the girl visions of India, she strives to discover more about her heritage and where her mother came from.
The illustrations are stunning. When in "real life", Chanani uses black and white panels, while magic is portrayed in brilliant color and the past is shades of sepia. For such a brief volume, it tells a powerful and uplifting story about cultural and familial understanding. Highly recommended to teens and tweens.

This was a fantastic graphic novel, and I loved the complementing black/white vs. color graphics! The journey of this young girl was beautiful, and I think it will be great to bring in to schools to talk about immigration, and the idea of "the grass is always greener on the other side."

Priyanka is a first generation Indian-American teenager who starts to learn her family history after a magical pashmina (shawl) starts to show her images of India. Through the shawl, Priyanka convinces her mother to let her travel to India where she learns her family history and the history of women in India.

This book is a beautiful story about family history with a little bit of magic. The artwork in the comic is perfectly fitting and helps tell a wonderful story.

I absolutely loved this graphic novel. The story was fast paced and at times choked me up with how I felt for the characters. I think this is such an amazing book for any teacher or for any parents wanting to introduce their kids to a different culture. It doesn't go too much into the history but again would be a good introduction to Indian culture and spark interest.

In Nidhi Chanani's first graphic novel, magical shawl leads to a young woman finding out more about her family heritage, as it transports her to a fantasy version of India that eventually drives her to meet her mother's long-separated sister and find out what brought her family to America. The classic fairy tale setup is freshened by tackling the culture clash of following another country's traditions in a new land.

Priyanka Das’s mother does not like Priyanka asking questions about India and her life there, but that doesn’t stop Pri from being curious. When Pri finds a magical pashmina in an old suitcase, she is suddenly transported to the India of her dreams, full of color, good food, and majestic buildings. In order to find out if the India the pashmina showed her is as beautiful as it seems and if it has the answer she’s been looking for, she must journey there herself.

PASHMINA is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel full of family and history. Priyanka yearns to know more about her family: who her father is, what her mom’s life was like in India, etc. Readers will find her curiosity relatable and realistic, just like the bond between Pri and her mother. Both love each other dearly, but they have parts of themselves that are hard to discuss and explain. Chanani captures the emotion spectacularly, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you get a little (or more) misty eyed at parts.

While I love Priyanka’s journey to discover where her family comes from and what that means to her, the story can be a little choppy. There were several times I had to go back a page or two to try to understand what had happened. Similarly, I felt the pashmina magic wasn’t as well explained as it could have been. We definitely get an answer as to what it does, but I was still confused about what exactly that meant.

While I was left confused in parts, the wonderful family portrayal, the meaningful journey of learning more about yourself and the world around you, and the gorgeous colors in the novel make this story a splendid and important read.

Teenage angst, finding your place in high school, and dealing with mean girls are all thing Priyanka experiences in Pashmina, a graphic novel appropriate for elementary students to high school. Pri, as she likes to be called has many questions about why her mother left India, and raised Pri by herself and won't speak of her father. Then there is the mysterious suitcase in the hall closet, what is hidden inside? Read Pashmina to find out.

This is such a cute, endearing graphic novel. I just fell in love with Pri. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

There are so many things that I really enjoyed about this graphic novel! I enjoyed the contrast between the black and white pages and color pages. Limiting the number of color pages really made them pop! I also enjoyed the fantasy aspect woven into the story, and I enjoyed that the fantasy pages were the ones in color. This will really help to ensure that my students catch the difference between the realistic parts of the story versus the fantasy parts of the story. I also enjoyed the diverse nature of this book. I have a number of great diverse chapter books in my classroom library, but very few, if any, diverse graphic novels.
I enjoyed reading about Priyanka, Pri, and her desire to learn more about her Indian heritage. Growing up in America, and not getting many answers about life in India from her mother, Pri wants to learn more about her "home" country. She, along with her aunt, eventually talks her mother into letting her take a trip there. What she finds on her trip completely surprises her!
Overall, a beautiful graphic novel!

3-3.5 stars

Pashmina is a new graphic novel focused on family relationships, culture, and how far we will go to protect ourselves and the ones we love. Priyanka is American, but she is also Indian. With little knowledge of her family's history, she grows up in a fatherless home always wondering about her roots. Any attempt to get her mother to open up gets stonewalled, and the only father figure in her life is about to have far less time for her. It's this heartbreaking realization that drives Pri onto a magical journey of self discovery.

Dealing with several hot points of the day- bullying, growing up in a single parent home, multiculturalism- Pashmina is a book that will strike a cord with younger readers, girls and young women in particular. The artwork is presented in basic black and white for the mundane, day to day scenes. Then transforms into bold, beautiful, color rich illustrations when the author intends to show or imply more magical moments. At first I was somewhat disappointed by the simple, colorless design of this graphic novel. However, once I realized the author's reasoning and how she did incorporate such striking color infused drawings I no longer felt the b&w portions lacking. It wasn't my favorite book as of late, yet I'm glad to have read it.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this review opportunity.

My favorite genre of graphic novel is the graphic memoir. Fun Home, Maus, and many more have taken over my heart. So, I had very high hopes. However, Pashmina did not disappoint. I connected with many of the elements personally, along with Priyanka herself. She's an amazingly sweet, realistic character. If I had children I would love for them to read Pashmina and get a sense of another culture while still enjoying a great read.

I'll be posting a full review on my blog, messmiah.wordpress.com, when the embargo on reviews has passed.

This was a lot of fun. The artwork was simple and beautiful, especially during the changes from black and white to colour whenever the pashmina was used. I liked that Priyanka wasn't always the most admirable character; she did/said some things that weren't good/nice but they were relatable given her current circumstances and how she was reckoning with her family history and the things she does and doesn't know. I loved her discoveries while she was in India visiting her aunt and uncle and especially liked that things weren't perfect for her aunt either; there was some nuance to her situation that gave insight into her family's culture as well as gave Priyanka a view into a different kind of life and further insight into how her mom became the person she is. I liked that things were a little messy at times--that there wasn't some neat explanation for everything--and that, despite the messiness, it gave Priyanka inspiration. This is a really fun comic with some great substance to it, and I loved learning more about India and Indian culture through it as well as getting to see Priyanka grow as a character.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this beautifully illustrated graphic novel, there is a mother daughter story where the daughter learns to embrace her cultural identity. This story is beautifully told through vibrant art and colors. A rich look into Indian culture and lore.

Priyanka is a typical teenager struggling with her identity. Trying to learn more about her mother's past she seizes the opportunity to visit India and get some answers to her questions. With her, she takes a pashmina which is magical and has shown her visions of India. Alas, reality rarely matches fantasy and she finds she must learn about her family on her own. A lovely book for middle grade to older readers.

Pashmina is the story of an artistic high school girl, Priyanka, whose mother immigrated to America from India before she was born. Priyanka wants to know more about the Indian culture, and about her father, but her mother refuses to discuss either one. To make matters worse, Priyanka’s favorite uncle is having a child of his own and she feels left out. Then Priyanka finds a magical pashmina in an old suitcase, which transports her to the colorful, fascinating India of her dreams. Luckily, her aunt, who still lives in India, calls and invites Priyanka to visit. This visit answers Priyanka’s questions, shows her what her mother’s life was like before she left, and helps her continue her own artistic journey upon her return.

The strengths of this graphic novel are in the simple but endearing illustrations, the bursts of color that signal the pashmina’s magical escapades, and in the characterization of the teen lead, whose angsty behavior is just edgy enough without being off-putting. This would be a great companion to American Born Chinese or Persepolis, and could be enjoyed by students in middle or high school.

This is a contemporary graphic novel that will appeal to fans of books like Roller Girl and Paige by Paige. It's a story that lots of readers will relate to - dealing with family changes, wanting to know more about where one comes from - but the cultural details and the #ownvoices experience make this one stand out. Black and white artwork bursts into color during the vision sequences when Pri puts the pashmina on. This is a really nice effect and differentiates between the day-to-day storyline and the fantasy world that the pashmina shows.

E ARC from Netgalley

Priyanka has trouble fitting in to her high school, although she has a good friend and a lot of artistic ability. She doesn't get along terribly well with her mother, who came to the US right before Priyanka was born and won't talk about Priyanka's father. Luckily, family friend Uncle Jatin makes time to take her to an Indian dinner and picks her up from school. When his wife is expecting, Pri worries that the new baby will cut down on the amount of time he can spend with her, and she prays to Shakti that this won't happen. When baby Shilpa is born prematurely and has health problems, Pri feels horrible. Finding a shawl of her mother's that affords her visions of life in India helps her feel a little better. Her mother still won't talk about India, but when Pri wins $500 in an art contest, she wants to go visit her aunt there. After praying to Shakti, her aunt calls and asks if Pri can come and stay with her since she is also expecting. When Pri gets to India, she is sad that the shawl no longer offers her visions, but by talking to her aunt and exploring the country, she is able to learn the background of the shawl as well as her own parentage. She returns to the US with a renewed appreciation for her mother.
Strengths: The artwork is very beautiful, and I loved the use of color for the fantasy sequences and the black and white for every day. I'd love to see more graphic novels that talk about the process of settling in the US. Many of my students were either brought to the US when very young, or are the first generation born here, and I'm sure there are lots of interesting stories. There is a lot of good cultural information in this, not only about food and clothing, but about attitudes and mores as well.
Weaknesses: Priyanka seemed more like a middle school student than a high school one. There were a fair number of reviews on Goodreads that weren't as happy with this as I was, and I think the disconnect between the stated age of the character and her reaction to events might be behind that.
What I really think: Definitely purchasing. Readers of El Deafo, Roller Girl, and Sunny Side Up will love this one!

I loved this graphic novel. The mother daughter story was very touching. I loved that she wanted to learn more about her heritage and culture. That grew and became more mature by the end of her journey to India. I was a little shocked that the mom was so against her traveling to India and meeting family but I realize the mom had moved on from her own troubling time their and didn't want to drudge it up again. I do feel like in a few place the transitions to the next scene could have been a little smoother. Sometimes it jumped around to abruptly. But over all a wonderfull read.

Beautiful book. It's so wonderfully written and it literally takes you into the MCs world and you can experience everything with her. 9/10

Although the main character is older and the topics a little more intense, Chanani's "Pashmina" is an oddly magical adventure that will appeal to fans of Raina Telgemeier. Which is great, because finding readalikes for those fans is always challenging.