Introduction: Rickshaw Girl has been honored with a Jane Addams honor book award, and we were thrilled to learn more from Ms. Perkins and Ms. Hogan (see interview on July 2) about this wonderful book. Two third and fourth grade readers enjoyed reading the NYSRA Charlotte Award nominated Rickshaw Girl and asked author Mitali Perkins the following questions.
Ms. Mitali: Thank you for these good questions.
Why did you write this story: because you have experienced it or something else?
Both my grandmothers and my mother (that’s a picture of her when she was 18) lived in the villages of Bengal, where RICKSHAW GIRL is set. I grew up hearing many stories of their childhood, and I wanted to write the story as a gift to them.
Then, when I lived in Bangladesh (see map) myself for three years with my husband and children, I met many girls like Naima. They don’t have much money but they have big dreams and high hopes. They love to paint, and play, and laugh, and hear stories, just like kids in America. So I wrote the book for them, too.
Naima loves to create alpana patterns. Do you like to make them?
I do like to draw alpana patterns, but I’m not as good as my Mother, who is an expert alpana painter (see photo of Mom painting). They are a lot of fun to design and color, and it is actually quite restful to create them.
Is this about your culture or have you just heard about it?
I am Bengali but we immigrated to New York City when I was seven (see photo — I’m the little one), so I didn’t grow up in Bangladesh. My parents both did, though, and they tell great stories about life in the villages.
When did you first start writing cultural stories? Is this the only cultural story you have made or is there another one?
I love how you can travel to other worlds through books. I like reading books set in other cultures, and writing them, too. Monsoon Summer and Secret Keeper, both for middle school students, are set in India. My next book, Bamboo People, is about two boys, one who has to become a soldier when he’s 15 and the other who has lost his home and his land and is on the run. It’s set along the border between the countries of Thailand and Burma, where I lived for three years.
THANK YOU AGAIN! If you have other questions, please let me know.
Mitali Perkins
<http://www.mitaliperkins.com>
<http://www.mitaliblog.com>
1 Comment
July 7, 2009 at 10:03 pm
What a gift to be part of your story, Mitali. I hope we do have an opportunity to share the pages of a book again.