The Story of Divaali

I wonder why the publisher chose to spell the well-known festival as Divaali in the title - a spelling I have never seen before, even if it may be phonetically correct. The festival is commonly spelled as Diwali or Deepavali, and I suspect it would have sold far more copies online with one of those spellings in the title. As it is, I ran across this book only in 2009, while I have been looking and shopping for Diwali books since 2002, when this book was published! The text is well constructed, and the illustrations are sweeping and gorgeous, full of eye-pleasing and authentic details. The choice of a digital, Disneyfied style for these illustrations is unfortunate, because the book could have been a timeless treasure otherwise. On the other hand, perhaps this will help its appeal to American kids.

Diwali is the 4th July, and Christmas rolled in one for Hindu kids. This book is a wonderful description of the most universal of Hindu festivals. Great artwork and lucid story are definite plus. A must buy for anyone interested in teaching kids about India and Hinduism.

It is an excellent story book indeed but it should have been titled something like "The Ramayan". I bought it to introduce my child to the festival . Most of the book depicts the Ramayan and there is very little about Diwali as such. I guess it is a challanging task to write a book about Diwali without mentioning Ramayan. The illustrations are very pleasing to the eye and are proportionate to the text contained on each page. This should make it easier for early readers to keep the interest as they read. There is a page on how it is celebrated currently, it would have been more interesting to have some more illustrations to support that. I certainly recommend it to anyone interested.

The pages of this book are beautified with the carefully planed placement of illustrations, similar to efforts put forth in the preparation of the Divaali family festival. This book offers those who don't practice Divaali a detailed understanding to the importance of this celebration and it similarities to the Christian celebration of Christmas.

Accurate ancient Hindu story, very nicely done for children and many adults.