Le Diwali de Binny
by Thrity Umrigar
C’est un grand jour pour Binny. Depuis quelque temps, avec ses camarades de classe, elle découvre toutes sortes de célébrations autour du monde. C’est aujourd’hui son tour de faire une présentation. Elle va parler de Diwali, le festival des lumières! Elle a hâte de mentionner les lampes à huile, les feux d’artifice et de tout ce qui constitue cette fête hindoue célébrant la bonté et l’espoir. Mais lorsque Binny se retrouve devant sa classe, elle a le trac et n’arrive pas à parler. Trouvera-t-elle le courage de faire découvrir Diwali à sa classe?
Une belle histoire qui encourage à reconnaître et à apprécier les différentes célébrations du monde entier.
Published: 2021
Originally written in English
Number of pages: 40
Recommended FSL Programs and Grades
French Immersion, Kingerdarten - Grade 6
Core French: Grade 4-6
Race/Ethnic/Geographic Information
Author: Indian-American
Characters: Indian
Setting: USA
Notes from a teacher-reader
Opportunity to talk about traditions and celebrations in French
Very colourful book and beautiful images
Different aspects of Diwali: religious, cultural
Can create parallels with other celebrations that involve light: Kwanza, Hanukkah
Lots of different shades of skin colours, good for representation for students
Inter-religious celebration and respect for other cultures’ celebrations
Challenging essentialism/stereotypes/tokenism: Authentic pictures that represent the community: eating food with her hands
Binny goes to her community to find Joy when she is being bullied by other kids
Text heavy, so it might be too difficult for very young learners, might need to read to them
Solicit / ground students’ identity in literacy by asking them what they know about Diwali and how they celebrate it with their families
Other texts to support: Des lumières pour Gita - film
Feel free to contact the teacher-reader, Asha Nagpal, at asha.nagpal@peelsb.com if you have questions about this novel.