posted on 06 Sep 2024

Aisha’s Colours by Nabila Adani

Every year, Aisha and her family leave their home in Indonesia’s capital city, Jakarta, to drive out to a small village in the countryside where they stay with her Grandma. If that sounds like fun to you and me, Aisha isn’t so sure.

The problem, you see, is that Aisha’s schoolfriends all seem to be having much more fun and doing all sorts of exotic things – she just longs for a change:

“This year, I want something new. 

I want to go somewhere different!”

Like what? Well, Aisha says, her friend Jennie is going to see the snow that’s ‘crisp and crunchy, and melts in your hands’. 

But, quick as a flash, her mother suggests they stop for Es Campur – a delicious Indonesian specialism that mixes fruits with shaved ice, syrup and condensed milk. Just like the snow Aisha described, it’s white, crispy and crunchy – but this one’s delicious too.

As the journey continues Aisha tells her parents about her other friends – Dimas, whose parents rent a holiday home with its own swimming pool and Siregar who saw so many fantastic fish at an aquarium.

But it slowly begins to dawn on Aisha that the journey to her Grandma has its own fantastic and colourful experiences – the great expanse of the ocean (better than any swimming pool) and a wonderful display of kites (more thrilling than any number of fish).

But, of course, there’s one thing her holiday has that none of her friends will experience – her Grandma! Just spending time with her in the garden and in the kitchen is the best way to spend holiday time.

“…I’m going to stop comparing my summer to others’…

and start to cherish all the wonderful colours of mine.”

The author and illustrator, Nabila Adani, who is based in Jakarta, has filled this book with colour – as befits the title she’s chosen. Her vibrant illustrations often spread themselves over two full-page spreads and bleed right off the edge of the paper, drawing you into Aisha’s world. Adani has also used the colours to skilfully modulate mood and the final pages showing the family together, eating, at the end of the day is full of warmth.

Available now from Walker Books, you will be able to get a copy from your local independent bookshop – who will be happy to order you a copy if they don’t have it on the shelf.

 

Terry Potter

September 2024