Malathi Michelle Iyengar, illustrated by Jennifer Wanardi,
Romina’s Rangoli
Shen’s Books, 2007.

Ages 4-8

Selected for the 2008 Skipping Stones Honor Awards in the “Multicultural and International Awareness” category, Romina’s Rangoli is Malathi Michelle Iyengar’s  picture book debut.

Romina, a half-Indian and half-Mexican girl, is struggling with a school assignment that requires students to “create something that represents your ancestors, your family, and where you come from. Something that represents your heritage.” She can’t seem to come up with a project that will blend her two cultures – that is, until Mr. Gonzalez, her Mexican neighbor, compares her rangoli patterns, drawn with colorful chalk on the sidewalk, and traditionally used in India to decorate “houses, the entrance of temples and courtyards,” to the symmetrical patterns of papel picado (cut-paper art), a Mexican folk art tradition.

In this combination of two distinct cultural traditions, lies the book’s strength, as well as Romina’s. She asks Mr. Gonzalez to teach her how to make papel picado, and choosing a thousand year-old rangoli pattern her grandmother has taught her, she transforms her rangoli into a papel picado piece.

To the teacher and students’ surprise, since they were expecting to see something hanging on the wall, Romina displays her project on the classroom floor, rangoli-style. She explains: “You, see, in India this design would be made of different colored flower petals, or dyed rice-flour, or colored chalk. But mine is made of cut paper, papel picado. My project is both Indian and Mexican, combined. Just like me!”

Celebrating the richness of growing up biracial, the story does a good job of pointing out the similarities shared between Romina’s two cultures. “Chutney is a lot like salsa,” she concludes after watching her dad select and mix all the ingredients for his chutney recipe - an observation that goes well beyond cuisine.

Indonesian illustrator, Jennifer Wanardi’s artwork depicts Romina’s world as one rich with family love and cultural pride. An end note offers background information on the arts of rangoli and papel picado, and includes samples of the author’s own designs.

Romina’s Rangoli should inspire kids to be proud of their heritage, mixed or not, and to take the story’s message of unity in difference to heart.

Aline Pereira
June 2009