Wednesday, April 16, 2014

New Picture Book: ‘Grandfather Gandhi’ by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus

In a gorgeous new picture book by Arun Gandhi, fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, collaborates with children's book author, Bethany Hegedus to tell a personal story about his grandfather.  The glorious illustrations are by Evan Turk.  The book was published by Atheneum Press, 2013.

When he was twelve years old, Arun went on a journey with his parents and his sister to his grandfather's village of Sevegram, India.  He wanted so badly to make his grandfather proud, but had a hard time doing so.

But Arun worried that his tutor thought he was stupid because he had so much trouble with Gujarati, the language spoken in Sevegram.

All during the summer, Arun’s frustration grew and grew, until one afternoon, during a soccer game, another boy accidentally knocked him down and Arun’s anger flared. Ashamed of himself, he ran to his grandfather who, to Arun’s surprise, assured him that everyone experiences anger. It’s how you use the anger, Gandhi told his grandson, that makes the difference.He also told his grandson:

Anger can strike, like lightning, and split a living tree in two. Or it can be channeled, transformed. A switch can be flipped, and it can shed light like a lamp. ... Then anger can illuminate. It can turn the darkness into light. 

An educational guide can be found online at www.grandfathergandhi.com for teachers and others who would like to use it for kids. 

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