Recent Reads: Sunflower Sisters by Monika Singh Gangotra

Source: From Sourcebooks Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review. This in no way alters my opinion or review. 

Sunflower Sisters by Monika 

Singh Gangotra
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Publication Date:  June 7, 2022

 

Format: Ebook

Rating:


Goodreads Synopsis: 

Sunflower Sisters celebrates two strong and independent girls experiencing each other's South Asian and Nigerian traditions while learning to embrace the color of their dark brown skin.

In this heartwarming celebration of skin shades from sun-browned to autumn-leaf-gold, Amitra and Kiki get dressed for their siblings' weddings while enduring family nitpicks about lightening cream, sun rays, and the skin-darkening effects of the color yellow. Luckily, Amitra's mother has a lesson or two to teach about that! With the support and empowerment of their moms, the sunflower sisters are two strong, confident girls–one South Asian the other Nigerian–finding joy in their own skin.

Review: 

Sunflower Sisters follows a young girl as she learns about old tales and traditions that would make her skin lighter. The book is all about colorism and even includes a few informational pages at the end to talk more about it without the story. 

    This was a very interesting book, I found the story to be both informative but also a bit much at times and think that some younger readers might have a hard time following. For example, in the first two pages there are 7 characters introduced and then another 4 in the next spread. It is hard to figure out who is who if you are not of these cultures were these names are common (I say this from the White reader perspective, I found it a but difficult because I was not familiar). 

    However, that being said, this is great representation of South Asian and Nigerian traditions and families which is needed in books for younger readers. It is a good chance for them to see themselves reflected in a book and it provides a good lesson - to be proud of you color. 

If you are lookinng for a book about Colorism, this would be a great book to add to your library, and it would also be great in any library to showcase other cultures.