The novel, written for kids 9 and over, is primarily about the upheavals that occur in the life of an Indian-Canadian family when the grandmother (Naniji) visits from India. The protagonist is Tara a lively and sensitive 15-year-old. She is initially resentful of her visiting grandmother because the grandmother seems to disapprove of Tara's mother's somewhat Western ways and indeed of the Canadian ways of the whole family: the kids don't know Hindi, nor about Diwali; they don't play the sitar and, worst of all, know nothing of the family's role and sacrifice during the Indian Independence movement.

This is too much for Tara: "This is the world I live in. But how do I fit? I'm not one of the true natives, the First Nations, and not one of the whites who marauded the globe colonizing, who tell the history of Canada from when they arrived. I'm too dark for the Samanthas and the rednecks, but not dark enough for Tolly, or Indian enough for Naniji, too Canadian, too Western. Always too something. Never just right."

Tara reads a paper at school about Naniji's role in the Indian Independence movement. The most evocative part of the book occurs when Tara alternates between wanting to read the paper to her class, and not wanting to because of how her friends will react to it and to her (how it will affect her acceptance within the group). She reads the paper anyway. As she had feared, some of her classmates do "shutter down" - close up by seeming to brand her as "other". But, unexpectedly, some of them actually congratulate her and thank her for introducing her to an aspect of history and of herself of which they had been unaware.

Her mother and Naniji are proud of her - that is, until Naniji hears Tara proclaim how she, Tara, is a "regular" Canadian. At this point Naniji "shutters down" because she cannot countenance the fact that her granddaughter is a proud Canadian - what of the family's heritage, sacrifice and history back in India? What of their allegiance to India?

"Naniji catches me staring and tries to smile. She's stiff, but it's not like before, with the criticism and disapproval and the hostility. Her eyes - they are hurt."

The resolution of the conflict within the family and within Tara's own mind is handled by Ms. Gilmore with great maturity and eloquence. She articulates opposing points of view with clarity and grace. Without talking down to the reader, she addresses sensitive issues such as race and color, assimilation and alienation, head-on. This is important especially because these issues are hardly ever addressed in a safe, non-ideological way, without putting one or the other side down as the victim or the aggressor, the turncoat or the conservative.

I highly recommend this book - not just for kids in this age group, but even for their parents and grandparents. In fact, I would go so far as to say this book should be made required reading for all kids (on any rung of the assimilation ladder) because it will create a better understanding and awareness of the inner script that guides our public lives.

To read more of this review, go to desijournal.com

"A Screaming Kind of Day" is an important book describing a difficult day in the life of a young girl who is physically handicapped. This, on its own, will garner attention for the book, but Rachna Gilmore goes a step farther than the usual depiction of physical disabilities and points out that Scully, a hearing impaired child, is behaving alike any child her age.

Her characters are au courant, and include a mother who is surrounded by books (is she studying for her degree, doing post-graduate work, working at home?), a brother, Leo, for just the right amount of tension in the story and a father, whose help and support are mentioned just once.

The need for and use of hearing aids is secondary to Scully's relationship with her family, especially her brother and mother, although she uses the ease of turning off or removing her hearing aids to help her get her way. As do most siblings, Scully and Leo have the ability to cause each other exquisite torture in their daily lives.

Scully is aware of the pressure her mother is under, how tired she feels, how tense she becomes in reaction to the behaviour of both children, but she has an "it goes with the job" attitude toward her mother's condition. Many children have just this attitude, although current psychological theory and social custom deny this, as they deny consequential behaviour. Scully, however, experiences definite consequences to her actions.

Nature plays an important role in Scully's life. Partly because her disability is deafness, the feel of rain and the sight of stars in the night sky are crucial to her. The story implies that this is a legacy from Scully's mother. Indeed, we get the feeling that their love of nature will help to see the family through difficult times all through their lives.

In the end, of course, all rivalries and frustrations are smoothed out and the family calms down as night falls.

The use of the name Scully recalls decades of children given names made popular by television and films.

The illustrations are wonderfully full blown and tactile to the eye. Gordon Sauve is an artist who not only is experienced in portraiture, but knows the story and knows family life. The variety of vantage points from which he illustrates the activity of the children enhances the rhythm of the story. His choice of positioning Scully's hands during the rain scene on page 18 leads us to imagine the natural extension of her embryonic movement upward into a prayer (at some point later in her life), gathering the rain, and perhaps the earth, into herself.

If I have any criticism of this book, it is that Dad appears in one scene only, at dinner, where he supports Scully by giving her a friendly wink. The author, through Scully, mentions that he has made a delicious tomato sauce that is used for the family dinner. He does not join Scully, Leo and their mother in the back yard to watch night fall and the stars appear, perhaps because the author wishes resolution of the day's difficulties to take place only among the people involved. It is the illustrator who expands the portrayal of Dad as humorous and loving. I feel that his inclusion in the final scene would have heightened the feeling of family unity.

This book is definitely a lap book, filled with controversial behaviour that invites discussion. It allows parents and children to explore their own feelings about frustration and disabilities, while at the same time giving the emotional security of a peaceful resolution. The language is opulent and well rounded, rich and poetic, encouraging children to reach into it for a luxurious moment, with the help of the parent or grandparent reading the story aloud. What can be more comforting than exploring the complexities of oneself and the world from the safety of Mom's or Dad's, Grandma's or Grandpa's, arms?

"A Screaming Kind of Day" has received the prestigious Governor General's award in Canada.

My almost 5 year old daughter picked this one out of the library - and what a great find! Here is a synopsis of the story;

"Lisabeth's mother constantly tells her about the perfect child she used to be. But one awful day, when there is liver and onions and no dessert for dinner, Wheniwasalittlegirl actually appears. She's "all neat and tidy, with that I'm-so-perfect smile on her face." Not only that, but she loves liver and onions.... How will Lisabeth manage to get rid of this obnoxious visitor?"

My girls now want to know if "wheniwasalittlegirl" can come to our house - they have been cleaning their bedroom & toyroom in preparation for her visit!!!

Those of us who appreciate good and interesting food will be quite glad this book is available. It will help you make the dishes at home that you previously could only get in a restaurant. The information on spices and their use is the highlight of this book as are the wonderful colour photographs. Well done.

The Spices Of Life is a beautiful collection of spiced and seasoned recipes from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Filled with fabulous color photos of the spices, foods, and market vendors, this cookbook is also a history book, for it traces the influences and development of trade for spices in the introduction. The spice guide in the beginning also contains much interesting information about each spice, plus a color photo of the spice. Recipes are divided into Starters, Snacks and Soups, Main Courses; Vegetarian, Main Courses: Fish and Meat, Side Dishes, Chutneys and Sauces, and Desserts and Drinks, with a Glossary & Food Facts at the end.

This book is the second of its kind by Troth Wells, following Global Vegetarian Cooking. Both books are representative of The New Internationalist magazine, which "aims to highlight major issues such as world food, aid, the environment, women, and the arms trade (foreword)." Thus, The Spices Of Life is not only a beautiful useful cookbook with world wide healthy recipes for spiced foods, it is also an education avenue with an underlying goal of helping those nations in need. Recipes are simply presented, with measurements given in both metric and non-metric measurements. Special explanations are given for unusual ingredients, with suggestions for where to obtain them, or sometimes possible substitutions. A helpful note at the bottom of every other page states that "in all recipes, pepper and salt are to taste, chili and sugar are given as guide quantities only, vary to taste, and measures for beans and grains refer to dry ingredients." The recipes themselves sound fabulous. There are recipes for Stuffed Bell Peppers (Middle East), Eggplants/Aubergines and Tomatoes (Syria), Sweet Potato Cake (Haiti), Groundnut/Peanut Stew with Fish (Sierra Leone), Rice with Tomatoes and Spinach (India), Sopa de Calabaza (Argentina), and many more. The recipes are simple enough to be accessible to most cooks, experienced or not. Best of all, while you are experimenting with cooking and sampling international cuisine and spices, you are contributing to a global sense of awareness and responsibility.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

A humerous tale of a young girl who hates books and can't escape them in her house - they are EVERYWHERE. But Meena discovers you can't judge a book by it's cover.As she attempts to rescue her cat from atop a tower of books she has refused to read, characters literally fall from the pages to find themselves confused and lost. When they look to Meena to help them back home she realizes she has no idea where they go. What's a girl to do? The solution of course is remarkably simple and Meena finds herself enthralled by the very books she ignored for so long. A wonderful tale of the magic of books. Children should enjoy the colorful illustrations especially of the bookstrewn household and the many charcters that Meena has to help home.

A nice story with illustrations although it does not give the kind of detail that my children & I crave. I paraphrased it, using the pictures, for a group of 3 - 6 year olds at school and they liked it. An easy introduction to Diwali for them. Then I showed them a few things, including a clay oil lamp and we had Indian sweets. For pictures of a more traditional celebration and those details, use the 2 page spread in "Children Just Like Me: Celebrations!".

This book was written by Rachna Mara not Rachna Gilmore.