Desert Girl, Monsoon Boy

Tara Dairman is the author of the middle-grade novels All Four Stars, The Stars of Summer, Stars So Sweet, and The Great Hibernation. She holds a BA in creative writing from Dartmouth College and has traveled to more than ninety countries. Tara continually draws inspiration for her writing from the landscapes she moves through and people she meets; she currently lives in an RV with her family, adventuring around the United States and beyond.Archana Sreenivasan is the illustrator of Rapunzel by Chloe Perkins, Diwali by Hannah Eliot, and many upcoming picture books. Her illustrations have also appeared in numerous magazines and comics. She studied animation film design at the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, and participated in a summer residency at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where she studied illustration. She finds the natural world and people watching most inspiring and is endlessly fascinated by cats. Archana lives in Bangalore, India.

“A beautiful and important book about climate change featuring those who are most affected by it. Dairman draws inspiration from the Rabari people, an Indigenous tribe of nomadic herders and shepherds that live in northwest India . . [and] Bangalore-based Sreenivasan’s extensive research is evident in her saturated, detailed illustrations. Text and illustrations work beautifully in concert.” –Kirkus, starred review"Short rhyming lines by Dairman (The Great Hibernation) reveal what happens to each group when the weather turns nasty: on top of a split page, there’s a sandstorm (“Sand blows in”), on the bottom, a monsoon (“flooding floor”). The girl takes cover in the family’s tent—“Tie the flap!”—while the boy ducks into his rapidly flooding house: “Seal the door!” When conditions grow unbearable, both groups trek to higher, greener ground—and there, their families meet. Digitally painted spreads by Sreenivasan (Diwali) feature angular graphic forms and jewel-toned hues. The colors intensify as the weather worsens: the light from the desert sandstorm turns everything orange, and the blues and greens of monsoon country deepen. While introducing the diversity of the Indian subcontinent through thoughtful juxtaposition, this collaboration also confronts the threats that extreme weather poses to various ways of life." -Publishers Weekly, starred review"In this beautifully rendered study of contrasts and commonalities, Dairman imagines a girl and boy from two different biomes in India. . . This book not only examines climate change through the eyes of communities whose lives and livelihoods depend on the weather, but also provides a starting point for conversations on gendered roles as well as about migration as a form of survival — and how our lives are interconnected." -The Horn Book“This story was inspired by the lifestyles of the Rabari people who live in northwestern India. Their lives, as we see in this very simple yet poignant book, are intimately connected to the environment. Young readers will find the jaunty rhyme of the narrative fun to follow.” -Booklist