Are you hungry, baba?
You’ve come to the right place! Let’s fire up the skillet and cook some lip-smacking, oh-so-yummy, belly-rubbing roti!
Harry R/flickr
There’s so much more to this homey unleavened Indian flatbread than meets the eye (or the stomach). Yes, it’s perfect for scooping up curries and vegetables (love love it with dahl), but did you know it also has the power to inspire really good stories? Hunh-ji! Yes Sir!
Hot, Hot Roti for Dada-ji (Lee & Low Books, 2011) contains all the ingredients I love most in a children’s story: food, family, and high octane fun. I can say unequivocally that it’s my favorite picture book thus far about contemporary Indian American life. How to blend the old with the new? Find an interesting way to bridge the generations? Introduce young readers to an unfamiliar culture? Lace a story with tasty specifics that tap into universal themes? Debut author F. Zia accomplishes all these things with her beautifully crafted “story within a story” that never misses a beat and is an absolute hoot to read aloud.