DAADI MAA'S DIARY OF SECRETS

Kumari shares the tale of a 7-year-old boy learning his family’s history in Kumari’s illustrated book for young readers.

Young Vivek visits his Daadi Maa (grandmotherin the Hindi language) on weekends. However, she always pinches his cheeks, criticizes his parents, and feeds him food with her homemade raisins, which he dislikes. One day, the annoyed boy decides to take Daadi Maa’s diary without permission: “He couldn’t have stopped himself even if he’d wanted to.” That night, Vivek hides under a blanket and eagerly opens the diary and begins to read. He learns of Daadi Maa’s upbringing in a poor farming family and reads about her brother Bhola, who spends time with a boy whom the very young Daadi Maa doesn’t like and calls “a crook.” Despite feeling a pang of guilt as he reads, Vivek continues and learns of a great tragedy—one that explains Daadi Maa’s habit of pinching cheeks. Later, Vivek and his mother visit Daadi Maa’s home; Vivek blurts out that he took her diary and begins asking questions about Bhola. Rather than being angry, Daadi Maa shares more details of her past and about her relationship with her son (Vivek’s late father), and she opens the door for a stronger bond between her, Vivek, and his mother. Over the course of the book, Vivek effectively broadens his understanding of his family members’ lives. Kumari offers young readers a poignant story that weaves together numerous Indian cultural elements, including raisin cake, traditional clothing, and Hindi terms. Daadi Maa’s story gradually unfolds through the characters’ words and those in her diary, which she kept as a young girl. Vivek’s thoughts and actions will be relatable to youngsters, and Shingre’s full-color cartoon illustrations are filled with vividness and detail; they complement the events of the story well.

A timeless story of family secrets and healing.