By Donna and Vikesh Amey Bhatt and Salini Perea
Nosy Crow, Paperback, £9.99
This colourful and accessible book manages to bring together history, geography, culture and religion while remaining very readable. Perfect for ages 9 and up, it is helpful for adults too, as I certainly learnt some interesting things while reading it.
Lands of Belonging handles difficult topics sensitively but without shying away from the facts – for example, the partition of India, and the Southall anti-racist protests of 1979. This book would be a useful prompt to talk about wider issues of empire, migration and racism, among other things. I found the introductory explanation of how histories come to be written, and whose stories tend to be told, both nuanced and helpful: “the way that we learn about our past is decided by the people who record our history. There are many different ways of telling the same story, and what you write down and how you write it depends on your point of view, such as if you think some events and people are more important than others”. (p.7)
The emphasis on shared histories, and being able to belong in multiple places and cultures, makes reading this book an often joyful and celebratory experience. The explanations of food, language and celebrations are stuffed with good information (and made me quite peckish). I saw this in the shop for the Ancient India exhibition at the British Museum and was cheered to find it there. First published in 2022, this new paperback edition is well timed.
Review by Bethan