Review by Booklist Review
When his grandfather, Dada-ji, tells Aneel a story from his boyhood, he describes superheroic feats achieved by eating stacks o. hot, hot rot. (flat, unleavened bread). Other family members are too busy to make roti for Dada-ji, so Aneel takes matters into his own hands, mixes the ingredients, and cooks them with his grandmother. After devouring their roti, Aneel and his grandfather enjoy backyard adventures that resemble those in Dada-ji's story. Salted with light humor, the conversations reveal a loving relationship in a story that also introduces Hindi family terms and foods (aided by an appended glossary). Rendered in acrylic and colored pencil, the slightly stylized cartoon illustrations reflect the humor and warmth of the grandfather-grandson bond. This delightful slice of Hindi culture will add an East Indian dimension to multicultural and food studies.--Perkins, Lind. Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3-This debut for both author and illustrator is a winning story of family traditions as well as a rollicking tall tale. When his Indian grandparents come to stay, young Aneel begs Dada-ji for a story. The old man obliges, regaling the child with an episode in which he ate his great-grandmother's famous roti-the unleavened bread that villagers "trampled tall fields and swam angry rivers to sniff." Apparently the delicacy endowed him with the power of a tiger, and he could wrestle snorting water buffalo and twist cobras into knots. Zia has an ear for the storyteller's cadence. She creates lyrical lines for the framing narrative and then alters her voice, animating the interior story with exaggeration and exclamations. Min's style is dynamic; he borrows a variety of techniques from graphic novels to delineate time and place and to focus attention. From inset boxes and monochromatic background figures to silhouettes and sequential panels, the effect is exciting and fresh. As Aneel stands on his head in imitation of his grandfather, the room tilts and smoke from the burning incense spreads across the page, carrying light green colored-pencil sketches of the "wheat fields and swaying coconut palms" of the elders' village. This contrasts with the bold colors of the boy's modern living room, rendered in acrylics. Inspired by the story, Aneel starts mixing ingredients. Boy and man chomp and chew. Do the roti still do the trick? Hunh-ji! Yes, Sir!-Wendy Lukehart, Washington DC Public Library (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Aneel's Dada-ji (paternal grandfather) tells an exaggerated story of his youth and how he gained "the power of the tiger" by eating the best roti in town. Excited by the tale, Aneel experiments in the kitchen to re-create the Indian flatbread and likewise gain superhuman strength. Warm acrylic and colored-pencil drawings zestfully capture the tale within a tale. A Hindi glossary is appended. (c) Copyright 2011. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Food, family and storytelling set irresistible hooks in this high-spirited double picture-book debut. Grandfather's rousing tales of a village youth spent tying cobras into knots, shaking mangos for the pickle jar from a giant tree and savoring the "fluffy-puffy roti that bubbled and wobbled in ghee on the hot, hot tavva pan" inspire young Aneel to give his Dada-ji "the power of the tiger" once again with a fresh batch of the unleavened treat. Since no one else in the extended family seems willing to make itthough they do gather around to watchinto the kitchen goes Aneel to mix the ingredients, knead and roll the dough, then (with help from Dadi-ma, his grandmother) to fry and dish up a "high, high stack" of "[h]ot, hot roti for Dada-ji!" Min echoes the narrative's exuberance with bright, blocky acrylic scenes of an Indian family in Western surroundings, dressed in a mix of contemporary and traditional styles and headlined by the lad and his elder. After downing the roti with finger-licking enthusiasm, the two proceed outside to shake apples off a tree for Dadi-ma's pie and tie their legs in knots to sit lotus fashion on a grassy hillside. A natural for reading aloud, laced with great tastes, infectious sound effects and happy feelings. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
