Celebrate Onam With Me! (From The Toddler Diaries)

Books celebrating Indian festivals like Onam are rare to find. I grew up celebrating Onam, and I was thrilled to find a book to teach my kids about the mythology and the traditions of Onam, especially one that is researched and illustrated so beautifully. I loved the poem format and enjoyed sharing it with my kids while reminiscing the celebrations of my childhood - with the pookalams, kaikottikalis, vallam kalis and yummy sadyas. The glossary at the end a great idea - I can imagine it helps those who haven't grown up around this festival and don't know what some of these terms mean or how they are pronounced. THANK YOU for writing such a wonderful book about underrepresented festivals of India!

Onam is a festival close to our hearts and we have been so excited about this book since we first heard about it.My daughter loved this book and have been talking all about it to her grand parents and cousins!It is well written & beautifully illustrated and helped her understand how Onam is celebrated in Kerala in its true spirit. It was so detailed that it brought back a lot of childhood memories of celebrating Onam back home. We also loved the Onam dictionary at the end.The book made such an impact on her that we went ahead and bought the other two books from the series as well.Great book for kids!

Loved everything about this book.I routinely look for books that provide insights into our Indian traditions. And it's not easy to find the ones that make it fun! But I am so glad that I discovered this series. This book like all the others by this author makes it so fun to learn about various festivals.Everything from the content to the delivery is amazing. And I feel that the USP of this book is the combination of the rhymes and illustrations. This combination creates such an impact that as we read, we can “see” activities in action.The best part - my 6-year old loves this book and was as enthusiastic to read it the 10th time as she was the 1st time.After Holi, Durga Pooja, and Onam, we are eagerly waiting for Diwali 😊.

My son and I loved this book on Onam. The author has captured the nuances of the festival very well. Like all of the books in this series, the book rhymes beautifully. The pronunciation guide and fun facts at the end of the book are quite informative as well. I would recommend this book to every Malayali parent trying to explain about Onam to their young kids.

My child and I were so excited that this third book in the series was about Onam. Our family is Bengali and Malayalee. So hard to find an animated book about Onam to read to a young child that is written in English in the US. We have all 3 books in the series after my child enjoyed learning about Durga Puja with the main character Riya. We are hoping for more books with Riya and her family that maybe will talk about Vishu, Saraswati Puja, Kali Puja, Diwali, Bhai Dhooj, etc to showcase other holidays in different regions of India.

The first book I read by this author was "Celebrate Holi with Me," and was waiting for the next few in the series on Indian festivals. I never knew much about Onam despite growing up in India, and I really enjoyed learning the traditions, rituals, and culture through this colorful, vibrant, and lively picture book.Must read for young children!Kudos to the author and the illustrator. Can't wait for the next one in the series.

This book talks about Onam, a harvest festival in Kerala. We join Riya in a colorful and exciting journey to Kerala where Onam is celebrated. She begins with the story of Bali and Vamana and then introduces us to how the festival is celebrated. We learn about the festival in rhyme - the clothes everyone wears, how they decorate their homes, the dances, the performances, the boat races. I love the introduction of new vocabulary - pookalam, pavada, Vallamkali, Onasadya and so much more. There is a rich glossary included in the back too. It is perfect for those who celebrate this colorful festival and to all who are curious about different cultures.

Another delightful read From the Toddler Diaries written by Shoumi Sen. Rhyming prose, judicious use of Malayalam names and beautiful illustrations transport the reader to another land. A must read for anyone who is curious about the festivals in the Indian subcontinent.

My children and I really enjoyed this book. We learned a lot about Onam and we really enjoyed the fact that Shoumi Sen weaves both mythology and the contemporary so skillfully. My 4 year old appreciated the rhyming couplets while my 9 year old found the detailed cultural anthropology fascinating. The dictionary at the back helps when it comes to unfamiliar words. Rudra Bose’s illustrations are absolutely on point. There’s just enough detail to be interesting and provoke questions while still following along with the text and girding it altogether. We did not know very much about Onam to begin with but by the end, we felt like we had a good grasp over the intricacies of the festival. All in all, really fun and really educational.

My daughter and I absolutely loved 'Celebrate Onam With Me.' We have been waiting for a picture book on Onam for a few years now. We have loved and enjoyed 'Celebrate Durga Puja With Me' by the same author, Shoumi Sen. This book is written in joyous rhyme and is illustrated beautifully. We loved the story of Mahabali, but that's not all that there is in the book. We get a slice of Onam in Kerala - the Vallamkali snake boats, the tiger dancers during Pulikali, the women performing Kaikottikali, the gorgeous pookalam, the delicious sadya, the food and the clothes. What a sumptuous book this is and such a treat for book lovers. We absolutely loved the Onam glossary at the back too. An absolute must-read picture book to immerse themselves in the beauty and significance of Indian festivals. The bonds of family are also celebrated in the book and this is something that children and parents will truly treasure.

Fantastic book, really nicely written

A book on Onam - the harvest time festival of Kerala was something we always wanted! It was a pleasure to read Shoumi Sen’s ‘Celebrate Onam with Me’ with my daughter.Written beautifully in the author’s poetic style , the story takes us through all the cultural elements of Onam! Being a partial Keralite myself, I loved all the attention to detail in the book - from the Pookolams to the Onasadya to the Vallamkalli! The book also has an Onam dictionary at the end - Very thoughtful indeed!And finally we loved the colourful illustrations that add a great flavour to the rhythmic verses and being the story aliveHighly recommended!

I am always looking for books that introduce Indian festivals and culture to my son, and this one has everything I want. Onam is close to my heart because I grew up studying in a Malayali school where it was celebrated with pomp. And so when I read this book, it took me back to all the childhood memories. I love the rhythm, rhyme and poise in the words that make the story of Onam interesting to young readers. What I particularly liked was that it covered the history of why we celebrate the festival as well as it tells us about the current traditions. The illustrations are brilliant, too. Definitely recommend it.