by Salima Alikhan; illustrated by Noor Sofi
About the Book
Our Favorite Day of the Year meets Alma and How She Got Her Name in this warm, lyrical picture book about a child who learns to celebrate her multicultural identity and finds pride in all the stories and worlds that live inside of her.
When it’s Multicultural Day at school, a young girl wonders how best to tell the story of who she is. With marigolds, mangoes, and stories of India? Fairy tales, cuckoo clocks, and German tales? Or cheeseburgers, superheroes, and American traditions?
When choosing only one doesn’t feel quite right, she realizes that stories from all three places make her who she is. With whole worlds inside her, she doesn’t have to choose just one—she can be all three.
Type of text: Realistic Fiction; Narrative; Picturebook
About the Creators
Salima Alikhan is a multicultural author and creative writing professor who grew up in the Washington, D.C. area sometimes feeling a bit different from other kids. Being half Indian and half German, she got to live in three cultures at once – German, Indian and American. Because of that she also got to hear stories from all three: Indian folktales, the European fairytales of Hans Christian Andersen and The Brothers Grimm, and the piles of American and piles of English books she was always reading. As a child she wanted to live in a magic forest, neighbor to a wood-witch, and to fly away with everyone she loved in a magic balloon.
Noor Sofi is a Kashmiri-American visual development artist who works in Burbank, California at Taiko Animation Studios. She is inspired by color, light, and being able to capture some of life’s sweetest moments. In her everyday life, she enjoys dreaming up stories, painting beautiful scenes, and traveling to new places.
Note: These creator bios were compiled from publicly available information (e.g., professional websites, interviews, etc). We have contacted the author, illustrator, and/or publisher to check in about the creators’ self identifications, and are waiting to hear back.
