Aisha’s Colors by Nabila Adani
On first glance it seems this 32 page picture book is going to focus on colors from the perspective of a little Muslim girl in Indonesia, but it isn’t a basic color book, in fact only three colors are even explored. The book is also not religious, aside from the hijab wearing mother and grandmother in the illustrations. And the writing isn’t really noteworthy, but yet, the book is endearing, and I can’t wait for my physical copy to arrive so I can share it with my kids and some classes for story time. The book has a plot, a little girl wishing she was spending her summer vacation seeing and going fun place like her friends. Instead she is going to her Grandma’s house, the same place they always go. She throws a bit of a tantrum, and then cools off and gains some perspective. It is sweet, it is realistic, it shows growth and life lessons of appreciating the beauty around you, and not worrying about other people, all without preaching or talking down to the reader in the simple text. It is joyful and highlights bits of Indonesian culture with beautiful images by the author-illustrator, a solid addition on bookshelves for ages 3 and up.
The book starts with Aisha bemoaning that her friends are going to fun far away places over the holidays, and she is going where they always go, from their home in Jakarta, to their Grandma’s village. She tells her parents about her friend Jennie going to see snow this year, and imagines the cold white crispness that she doesn’t know. Her parents respond by taking her to get es campur.
She then laments about Dimas floating in turquoise water looking up at a blue sky, to which her father encourages her to look out the window. When their car breaks down, and Aisha is encouraged to go cool down after her tantrum, her mom works on fixing the car, and a sky of kites shakes Aisha’s melancholy mood. By the time they arrive at Grandma’s Aisha is seeing her own vacation in a different way, surrounded by colors, love, and family.
The book warms your heart, Aisha is grumpy, but not annoying, and the yellow warmth of Grandma is palpable. I wish a few more colors were included and more culture shown that way, and I stumbled repeatedly over a few awkward sentences, not that they were wrong, but they just didn’t seem to flow when read aloud. Overall, a good book. Preorder today, it releases September 3, 2024.
