Celebrating Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month: The Indian-American Experience in YA Lit

A few weeks ago, I was lamenting the closing down of one of my favorite restaurants in San Diego. I’m almost embarrassed to admit how choked up it made me feel, but hear me out: This particularly eatery was so important to me because 1) It was the only place nearby that served the authentic South Indian cuisine I grew up eating and, 2) It’s where my husband and I grabbed lunch after our courthouse wedding nine years ago.

For years, my husband and I made the 30-minute drive to Madras Cafe – it would usually be packed with Indian families (many of whom were South Indian like mine). While perusing the menu, I would take comfort in being surrounded by the familiar strains of Tamil or Telugu – the languages spoken by my father and mother, respectively. The walls were also plastered with faded photographs of temples in the southern part of India, and food was served on traditional stainless steel dinnerware.

Because my parents live in Northern California, this place was the closest I could come to my mother’s home cooked meals. More than all of this, this restaurant represented a space where I belonged, and where I was not an outsider. This sense of belonging also applies to my feelings about diversity in literature – I continue to search for books in which I find my personal cultural experiences accurately mirrored. Discovering a story where the characters eat the same food as I do, pepper their English-dialogue with Indian language, and express the frustration of straddling two cultures elicits an internal sigh, like, “Finally! Someone else gets it!”

The month of May marks Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, and I’m excited to share a few YA literature titles that focus on the Indian-American experience and/or Indian culture. 

A Time to Dance by Padma Venkatraman: I picked up this book from Penguin’s booth in January during ALA Midwinter because I was pleasantly surprised to see a mainstream publisher releasing a novel about bharatanatyam (South Indian classical dance). Growing up, my family and I watched a lot of Bollywood cinema which fuses Western and classical dance techniques; I also attended a few arangetrams (debut performances) with my parents. Even though Venkatraman’s book is set in India, it’s sure to resonate with the Indian diaspora.

Veda lives to be a bharatanatyam dancer, but when she tragically loses her right leg in an accident, she must overcome formidable challenges to keep her dream of dancing alive. Once she is fitted with a prosthetic leg, Veda proceeds, with the support of her family and a patient teacher, to dance again. Told in luminous, spare verse, Veda’s story packs an emotional punch.

Blue Boy by Rakesh Satyal (2010 Lambda Literary Award Winner): Adult fiction with definite YA appeal, Satyal’s hilarious and heartwrenching story gave me all the feels. Set in Cincinnati, Ohio, during the early 1990s, Blue Boy is the story of tweenaged Kiran Sharma, who loves music, ballet dancing, and playing with Barbies and Strawberry Shortcake dolls. Unfortunately, all of these things mark him as an outsider among his closed-minded peers at school. The Indian children of his parents’ friends hardly accept him, either. When his mother catches him wearing her make-up one day, the inventive tween pretends that he’s divinely inspired by the Hindu blue deity, Krishna. Initially an excuse to throw his mom off, Kiran’s imitation of Krishna becomes an all-consuming pursuit of personal truths and individuality.

Monsoon Summer by Mitali Perkins (2008 Popular Paperbacks) “Jasmine “Jazz” Gardner heads off to India during the monsoon season. The family trip is her mother’s doing: Mrs. Gardner wants to volunteer at the orphanage that cared for her when she was young. But going to India isn’t Jazz’s idea of a great summer vacation. She wants no part of her mother’s do-gooder endeavors.

What’s more, Jazz is heartsick. She’s leaving the business she and her best friend, Steve Morales, started—as well as Steve himself. Jazz is crazy in love with the guy. If only he knew! Only when Jazz reluctantly befriends Danita, a girl who cooks for her family, and who faces a tough dilemma, does Jazz begin to see how she can make a difference—to her own family, to Danita, to the children at the orphanage, even to Steve.” (Description from Goodreads.com)

For additional suggestions on fantastic South Asian lit, check out these other posts on The Hub:

India Independence Day

Happy Independence Day (In India)

– Lalitha Nataraj, currently reading The Pomegranate King by Nishta Mehra