Spread the Light with These 5 Diwali Children’s Books
Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, is a five-day celebration that runs from October 29th to November 3rd in 2024. It’s India’s biggest holiday of the year. Here are five children’s books about Diwali to help celebrate the holiday and spread the light of happiness.
Once Upon a Diwali by Anita Mishra & Diah Chakraborty
This picture book takes readers through all five days of Diwali through the eyes of a young girl named Riya. Riya is scared of the dark and thinks they should skip celebrating Diwali with fireworks and instead just eat ladoo. On the first day of Diwali, Dhanteras, the family worships and eats together. On the second, Choti Diwali, the family decorates the house with lights and candles. Riya confesses she’s scared of the fireworks and going out after dark, and her mother tells her the story of Diwali, about Ram being banished from his kingdom and saving his wife after she’s kidnapped by an evil demon. He returns to the kingdom greeted by light, and so they celebrate with fireworks. With this story, Riya isn’t scared to participate in festivities on the third day, the main Diwali celebration. Back matter includes an author’s note, glossary, ladoos recipes, and a paper diya craft.
Diwali: A Festival of Lights by Anita Yasuda & Darshika Varma
Little Golden Books has a new series explaining holidays from around the world, and this is their latest in that series. It’s a sweet and basic explainer of what Diwali is and how it is celebrated. It follows a family as they prepare for Diwali. It briefly explains the tale of Rama, describes the many places where Diwali is celebrated, and shows the family cleaning to welcome Lakshmi, hanging marigolds, drawing a rangoli, cooking sweets, worshipping at the temple, and more. It’s a great first Diwali book.
Diwali by Sital Gorasia Chapman & Darshika Varma
This is also an excellent introduction to Diwali, and breaks down festivities by each of the five days, providing more details than the Little Golden Book. The story follows Sonali and her younger brother Jay as they prepare and celebrate on each of the five days. They clean their home and tidy toys, make rangoli and divas with their mother, cook penda with their Nani, and more. Extensive back matter includes quizzes, recipes, crafts, history, and more. This is also part of a series that shows celebrations from around the world.
Happy Diwali! by Sanyukta Mathur & Courtney Pippin-Mathur
This is a simple, joyful picture book depicting a young girl and her family preparing for and celebrating Diwali in the U.S. It opens with the mother waking up the daughter. Then the family cleans, hangs up lights, gets out lanterns, uses chalk to draw a rangoli, cook puris and channa masala, and more. Back matter includes an author’s note about celebrating Diwali in the U.S., a glossary, and three recipes.
Diwali in My New Home by Shachi Kaushik & Aishwarya Tandon
Diwali is Priya’s favorite holiday, and when she lived in India, everyone celebrated. But now Priya lives in the United States, and it feels like no one knows what Diwali is, which makes her sad. With her family, they prepare for and celebrate Diwali, and as they do so, neighbors stop by and ask questions. As the family explain, they invite the neighbors to participate in their Diwali celebrations. It no longer feels quite so lonely for Priya. This is a sweet picture book about the loneliness that can occur after a move, particularly when moving to a new country.
And here are two more children’s book lists with entirely different children’s books about Diwali!
If you’d like to read more of my kidlit reviews, I’m on Instagram @BabyLibrarians, X @AReaderlyMom, Bluesky @AReaderlyMom, and blog irregularly at Baby Librarians. You can also read my Book Riot posts, and if you’re a Nashville local, subscribe to my Hey Nashville newsletter. If you’d like to drop me a line, my email is kingsbury.margaret@gmail.com.
All the best,
Margaret Kingsbury
