Member Reviews
Very much enjoyed this multi-cultural book about identity and sense of place. Breaks the stereotypes about Indian girls and provides a good story to boot.
Wonderful YA graphic novel about a young Indian-American girl trying to find out about her heritage.
Especially the coloured pictures of India are wonderful.
This was an interesting story about a pashmina that can show the wearer their options and what can happen. It can help make life changing decisions. Our girl want to know more about her life, her family, and her home country of India. But her mom says these topics are off limits. When the pashmina show her India over, and over again, it helps make the case for going. Overall I like this graphic novel and love what the illustrator has done with the colors, and lack of colors. The story line can be a little hard to follow, and I am really happy there was a glossary in the back. While I liked this book and story, I can see many being turned off. Not only is it hard to follow, but it can be hard to keep track of the timeline.
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Priyanka is an American teenager who is curious about her Indian ancestry and wants to visit India to find out more about her mother's past and meet some of her family. She finds a magical pashmina in her closet that gives her glimpses of the India she has always imagined. I liked how the illustrations change from grayscale in her real life to vivid colors in the fantasy scenes. The story and the illustrations were wonderfully done!
The art in this is *fantastic* but the story lacks focus and cohesion. Lots of things just happen with gaps of time in between, which is really confusing. I'd love to see another story from this artist, though. Really fantastic art and colors.
There were many things that I liked about this book. I loved the contrast between the grey of the real world and vibrant color of the Pashmina world. It really caught my attention the first time it moved to full color. I really liked that neither country, the US or India, felt like it was being presented in an idealized fashion. I thought that the story was pretty interesting, but I also felt like it often had very abrupt transitions to new scenes and I would be left wondering how it got there. The characters, especially the mother, sometimes said things that seemed to come out of the blue or that I couldn't imagine anybody actually saying out loud. Overall, a pretty good book that I would recommend.
This is a gorgeous story! It deals with cultural issues, feminist issues and just plain growing up as an outsider with beautiful illustrations and so much heart!
A wonderful and poignant graphic novel about family, home, identity, and empowerment. I love the story's focus on a young Indian-American girl and her desire to connect with her heritage and family in India. The black and white artwork becomes vibrantly and gorgeously colourful during the magical realism sections of the books, and this is very effective. A lovely and powerful story!
Priyanka vorrebbe essere chiamata Pri, ma sua madre non vuole saperne.
Come non vuole raccontarle dell'India, da cui è partita prima che nascesse, ma ai cui costumi continua a esser fedele; e come non vuole raccontare a Priyanka di suo padre.
Pri non vuole essere indiana, vorrebbe integrarsi completamente a scuola; ma la febbre di conoscenza cresce, e il desiderio di scoprire la verità sul passato di sua madre e di un Paese che sembra uscito dalle fiabe la divora.
Finché non indossa lo scialle della madre, e viene trasportata in un'India di sogno. troppo bella per esser vera...
Una piacevole storia d'adolescenza e di ricerca della propria identità, in cui però rimane tutto estremamente superficiale; i personaggi sono davvero solo di carta, la vicenda è forse troppo semplice (o semplicistica) e tutti gli spunti che si sarebbero potuti sviluppare (le difficoltà di un rapporto madre-figlia, il passato doloroso, la diversità culturale, la ricerca di indipendenza e identità non solo della protagonista, ma anche delle donne intorno a lei) rimangono appena sbozzati.
I really enjoyed the graphic styling and the colors of this graphic novel.. I feel that the plot will resonate with anyone trying to understand their ancestry or kids who feel/felt marginalized in school. Priyanka seems relatable, curious and smart. When she finds the pashmina and the colors explode on the page, it's very visually interesting. I have always enjoyed Nidhi Chanani's artistic stylings, and I was happy to be able to read her debut graphic novel early.
As a whole, the story was clever and poignant, and I'm glad to see strong Indian women as the subject of a YA graphic novel. However, I found myself struggling at times to follow the action from page to page; it felt like it was lacking appropriate transition panels and that was confusing at times
Pri is a budding artist with a lot of questions. Her biggest questions have to do with her heritage - India and why her mother never talks about it. When she discovers a pashmina in an old suitcase and puts it on she is transported to India where 2 guides show her glorious sites. But she wants to see the real India. Pri finally gets her chance and i India she learns the truth behind her history and the pashmina.
This was a really nice graphic novel about a girl discovering her history. The use of color in the dreamy pashmina sequences was great.
Beautiful illustrations weave between color and black and white depending on the realistic storyline of a young Indian-American girl trying to make sense of her heritage amid the bits and pieces of information provided by her mother. A great addition to a diverse graphic novel collection.
It's both a family story and an interesting look at another culture. I really enjoyed reading it and the colors are beautiful. I'd definitely suggest this to younger teens.
Pashmina is such a wonderful, empowering book for young women in the world. The story is about Priyanka, a teenage Indian girl who was born in America and has only ever known that as her home. As she explores her life through her creative projects, she begins to wonder more about her family in India and what happened there to her mother to drive her away from those she loved most and why she would want to start anew without them. She longs to know more about her father and all sorts of other things that a young girl might want to know about.
As her mother puts up walls to try to protect Priyanka, she inadvertently makes Pri even more hellbent on finding the truth. One day, she finds a beautiful pashmina in her mother’s things. The pashmina shows Priyanka beautiful visions of India and drives her need to know more about her past and her family.
Most of the story is told in simple but lovely black and white. When Priyanka puts on the pashmina, however, the world that she sees while wearing it is in full, beautiful colour. The pages are vibrant and enriched, which shows how India calls to Priyanka and how enticing that world is to her. It’s something outside of her every day life and is full of sights, sounds, smells and people that Priyanka hasn’t experienced before.
The story is sweet and teaches women that they can choose their own fate and future. Their happiness is not reliant on someone else and at any point in time, you can adjust your path. The art is fairly simplistic but not in a bad way. It’s along the lines of what you might see in a Raina Telgemeier book, but minus the colour (except with the pashmina sequences).
It’s nice to see a character that embraces their heritage and background and wants to actively find out more about their family and history as opposed to seeing teenagers who are rebelling by not wanting anything to do with it. Priyanka loves drawing and creating stories for her and her friends. She finds inspiration in her personal life and experiences, which I found absolutely charming.
Verdict:
Buy this book! I think it’s an important story that will help young people embrace their backgrounds, especially in a time when politicians and people stuck in the past are making many feel like you can’t be proud of your heritage unless you’re white. Diversity makes us special and Pashmina demonstrates that theme for us over and over again.
Pashmina will be out later this year on October 7, 2017.
I absolutely loved this graphic novel! Priyanka has trouble fitting in at school and has questions about her past. She finds a pashmina in her mother's closet which magically transports her to a world more colorful than any she ever imagined. Will the questions about her past finally be answered? The transitions from black and white to color, really made this story come alive.
The illustrations were beautiful, but I would have liked more development in the story. Some story lines - the bullying, the baby's recovery - were dropped or rushed.
I had high hopes for this book because of the amazing illustrations. I was hoping it would be something I could give kids who love realistic fiction graphic novels. The illustrations drew me in, but the storyline and story development could have been better.
Wow, what a beautiful book. It was a beautiful story and the illustrations were gorgeous. I enjoyed that it was a different take on an Indian girl growing up in the United States with the cultural differences between herself and her family. That piece of the story reminded me specifically of "Born Confused" by Tanuja Desai Hidier. But incorporating Hinduism with prayers to Shakti was a special touch that was important to the story and to Priyanka. And the pashmina being a beautiful symbol of the power of feminism, moving women towards bettering themselves, via the divine feminine was quite lovely. All around, just a touching and beautiful story.