Jamie Burress is one of the most fun glass artists I know of. Whether she’s making a mosaic or stained glass piece or a set of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle coasters she’s obviously having a great time creating. Her newest glass adventure involves Grumpy Cat. Now if you don’t know who Grumpy Cat is you may have been living under a rock or at least some place without access to Facebook or a computer. In fact Grumpy Cat was just in Austin at SXSW and people waiting in line for hours to get a picture with her. What Jamie has done is post a visual tutorial on Facebook on how to make Grumpy Cat glass coasters. So cool. Although Grumpy might not think so…
Have you read?
Book Review: The Festival of Lights
As if Diwali weren’t colorful and fun enough, The Festival of Lights: A Lift-the-flap Diwali Celebration by Namita Moolani Mehra, illustrated by Darshika Varm, makes it even more fun to read about with flaps and things to lift and pull to see more information or details in the illustrations.
The book is a story about a family getting ready for Diwali and what happens on the different days of the five-day celebration. There’s cleaning, shopping, crafting, food preparation and getting the home altar ready for the big day.
It covers decorating the outside of the house with rangoli, diyas and lanterns, buying sweets to share with family and friends, the sights and scents of the mandir (home temple), getting dressed up in new fancy clothes, the story of Diwali and celebrations with relatives.
Flaps (there are more than 140 in all) give you vocabulary words for different foods and definitions, as well as fun things like what’s inside the shopping basket or where the cat is hanging out. They also help illuminate the story of Diwali, which is the triumph of good over evil as Lord Ram defeated the demon Ravana to save his wife, Sita.
This pretty and colorful book helps kids understand what Diwali is and how it is celebrated, regardless of whether they practice it at home. This would be a nice book to keep in a classroom (it’s rated for kids ages 3-7) or to have at home to teach kids about Diwali even if it’s not something you celebrate. Where I live there are a lot of people from India so we are probably exposed to Diwali more than some other regions of America, but it’s a nice holiday to know about wherever you live.
Combine with the book Diwali and check out some fun lantern crafts and printables for kids to round out your experience.
About the book: 24 pages, hardcover, published 2025 by Wide Eyed Editions. Suggested retail prices $22.99.