I love when authors write the struggles children have to go through in the process of immigration. I have enormous respect for children straddling between two cultures especially when they have to code switch between languages and cultures. This can be daunting to many immigrant children as they question their identity and choices in whatever they do.
‘Home is in between’ is a wonderful book for immigrant children to see that they are not alone. The character Shanti and her family move from India to the United States and Shanti finds herself flummoxed between two homes: her old village, stories in Bengali, favourite snack ‘luchi’, and her life in her family's apartment. She has to learn to adapt to her life in town, at her new school, with trick or treating, ballet, and snowball fights. Shanti is trying to figure out how she could act as naturally as possible without abandoning her home culture and which culture should she call her home.
The beautiful illustrations depict Shanti trying to make sense of the two very different worlds she is in and at the end she finally realises that she is not just one culture - she is both.
I advise readers not to miss the note from the author and the glossary on the endpapers.