This book was written by a Towson University professor! It is a very cute book and it allows children to have a small overview of Indian culture. I feel as though the pictures could have been done a little better though. All in all, I do think this is a book I will keep in my classroom library one day for any child who is interested in learning about new cultures!

In the book "Bundle of Secrets: Savita Returns Home", the main character Sativa, is given the job of keeping the family bundle safe on their journey back to Kenya. As she is in the car on her way home, she realizes she left the bundle on the boat and quickly goes back to retrieve it. When she finally gets to open the bundle, it contains a bunch of spices and herbs that were popular in her culture. As Savita continues her journey home, she realizes how proud she is of her home and of her culture. The central message of this book is that no matter what culture you come from, you should be proud of it and don't let anyone ruin your pride. ( )

I had mixed feelings about this book. I really liked how this book was multicultural and gave children an easy to understand background on both of the cultures in the book while also telling a story that is intriguing to children. For example, the book explains how Indian spices are used while they are cooking in Africa. The book also flowed very well and was relatable and engaging plot wise to many different children even ones that have not experienced travelling to a far away place. The illustrations were extremely simple yet amazing and really added to the story. I did not like that the book was missing the element of pushing readers to think about tough issues and that it had certain words that were well above the age that the book was intended for academically. By this I mean that the story line and the overall word choice seemed to suit 1st grade through third grade yet there were a few words in the book that were more than challenging for that level. In the story there is no real conflict or issue to think about or resolve. The child comes home with her mom from India and re immerses herself in the African culture while adding Indian culture but there is no issue. Some of the words that are disproportionally challenging are "monotony" "inhabitants" and a few others that are well above grade level. I feel that challenging words should be incorporated however they have to be minimal and achievable. The main idea of this book was to teach children about the lives of children in other countries many years ago.
I do want to note that this book has an award. the award is the African studies association children's Africana book for the year 2014. ( )

I liked reading this picture book "Bundle of secrets" for many reasons. One reason I liked this book is because it was unfamiliar to me and provided a multicultural viewpoint compared to my other readings. I learned a lot about Indian and Kenyan culture by reading this book, which I enjoyed. Another reason I liked this book is because the author added helpful hints along in the text to help the reader learn about Indian or Kenyan culture. For example, in the text the author would use a Indian word but then explain what the word meant in english. For example the book mentions the Indian word, dhow and then explained that this word meant large boat. Another aspect I liked about this book is how the illustrator added a map in the beginning of the book for the reader to visually see the journey being traveled by the family in the book. This was very beneficial for me to see as the reader. The author included many cultural aspects throughout the book, which is another reason I liked this book. The author included the appearance and clothing of the culture by explaining in the text and then showing the reader in the illustrations. The author also added some things such as a recipe from India that was included in the book. I think this really taught the reader many things and made it an interesting read. The reader can take what they learned from this story and use it again. The last reason I liked this book is because it contained real places in Kenya. For example. in the story the family is driving past these two large elephant tusks in a town in Kenya. This is a real place in Kenya. I think this is important because the reader gets to see a real place in another country.
The big message of this book was to share a story of an Indian family that lives in Kenya and share their culture with others. ( )