Chaiwala!

 

Publication date: October 15, 2021

From the Publisher:

When their train makes a 10-minute stop at the station in Jaipur, a young girl and her mother hurry to get in line for a cup of chai. While the girl waits for her mug of milky spiced tea, readers are treated to the sights, sounds, and smells of the Chaiwala’s cart. The aroma of ginger, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon sticks swirls in the air. Tea leaves rustle, milk bubbles, and the hot drink is poured back and forth until―clink!―the cups are filled and placed on the stand. With a biscuit and a rusk added to their order, it’s time to find a spot to sit and enjoy!

Inspired by the author’s childhood visits to India, Chaiwala! celebrates the pleasures of taking time for food, family, and tradition―even for a brief moment. Illustrated in lively cut-paper collages and filled with scrumptious sensory details, this book is just like a cup of chai―warm, comforting, and good to the last drop.

My Thoughts:

This book is a gorgeous feast of sensory language. I have never had chai in India, but I know a little something about food at train stations in Japan so the text by Priti Birla Maheshwari just mixed in with my own memories of rushing in line or ordering food from the train as vendors went by with their boxes of yumminess.

I breathe in the scents of /crushed ginger and cardamom,/cloves and cinnamon sticks--/plus a dash of black pepper./Mmmm!

The cut paper collage illustrations just add to the magic of this book. I especially love the page where the Chaiwala is mixing the spices together with his mortar and pestle. The whole cloves and cinnamon, weave into the 3-D scent cloud of the spices and oils traveling into the air and teasing the young girl's nose. Beautiful!

 What to do with this in secondary:

This is a gem because as a writing workshop mentor text in secondary, this book can be used to model show don't tell sensory language as well as how for AAPI and BIPOC (Asian American, Pacific Islander; Black, Indigenous, and people of color) authors, food and writing about food is not just about the food, but also about identity, place, family, and culture. 

Other books to add to the resources for this exact "lesson,":

Fry Bread: A Native American Family Story by Kevin Noble Maillard and Juana Martinez-Neal

Cora Cooks Pancit by Dorina K. Lazo Gilmore and Kristi Valiant

I will find more, but add this to the classic Patricia Polacco story Thunder Cake about her cake adventures with her Babushka.