My Best Friend's Bangles
by Thushanthi Ponweera (Author) Maithili Joshi (Illustrator)
A stunning, lyrical picture book exploration of the nuances of friendship as two best friends experience jealousy for the first time when one of them receives a beautiful gift of rainbow bangles from her mom.
Selvi's best friend in the whole world is Divya. She and Divya are alike in so many ways: they love biking to school; they love to play dress up; and they both miss their ammas, who work overseas and only come home once a year. It's hard not having their moms home all the time, but it's okay because they have each other.
But when Divya's amma returns home early and gifts Divya with a beautiful set of rainbow bangles, Selvi starts to feel jealous of her friend. Why is Divya's amma home and not hers? Does Divya even need Selvi anymore now that she has her mom back? As their friendship is tested, Selvi and Divya learn the real treasure they have to cherish is each other.
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Best friends Selvi and Divya each miss their ammas, who live in another country, working in domestic positions and sending the proceeds home. Still, the two girls have each other for riding bikes to school, playing dress-up, and eating pittu with sugar. When Divya one day arrives on a bike wearing rainbow bangles, explaining that they're gifts from her recently returned amma, Selvi smiles, but "my heart falls with a thump." Overwhelmed with thoughts of her own amma, she snaps at her friend, an act that sends "those too-bright, too-loud, too-everything bangles" to the ground. Joshi's digital images suggest bangles clinking through curling waves of rainbow swirls, and the bracelets work as a visual framing device as their bright hues represent a shared rainbow for the reconciled friends in this work of longing and love. An author's note discusses Sri Lanka's colonial history. Characters cue as South Asian. Ages 4-8. (June)
Copyright 2024 Publishers Weekly, LLC Used with permission.
JUV039140 - Juvenile Fiction | Social Themes | Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance
Picture books
Emotions
Best friends
Jealousy
Sri Lanka
Working mothers
