HOT, HOT ROTI FOR DADA-JI

Food, family and storytelling set irresistible hooks in this high-spirited double picture-book debut. Grandfather’s rousing tales of a village youth spent tying cobras into knots, shaking mangos for the pickle jar from a giant tree and savoring the “fluffy-puffy roti that bubbled and wobbled in ghee on the hot, hot tavva pan” inspire young Aneel to give his Dada-ji “the power of the tiger” once again with a fresh batch of the unleavened treat. Since no one else in the extended family seems willing to make it—though they do gather around to watch—into the kitchen goes Aneel to mix the ingredients, knead and roll the dough, then (with help from Dadi-ma, his grandmother) to fry and dish up a “high, high stack” of  “[h]ot, hot roti for Dada-ji!” Min echoes the narrative’s exuberance with bright, blocky acrylic scenes of an Indian family in Western surroundings, dressed in a mix of contemporary and traditional styles and headlined by the lad and his elder. After downing the roti with finger-licking enthusiasm, the two proceed outside to shake apples off a tree for Dadi-ma’s pie and tie their legs in knots to sit lotus fashion on a grassy hillside. A natural for reading aloud, laced with great tastes, infectious sound effects and happy feelings. (glossary) (Picture book. 5-8)