Many Things At Once, Veera Hiranandani
Many Things At Once, Veera Hiranandani
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Many Things At Once

Author: Veera Hiranandani

Narrator: Veera Hiranandani

Unabridged: 8 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/28/2025


Synopsis

In this poignant picture book about family and belonging, the child of a Jewish mother and a South Asian father hears stories about her family history. Sometimes she doesn't feel Jewish enough or South Asian enough, but comes to realize you can feel--and be--many things at once.

AN ASIAN PACIFIC AMERICAN AWARD WINNER

Based on the author's own family history, here is a moving story about a young girl from two different backgrounds. The girl’s mother tells her stories about her mother, a Jewish seamstress in Brooklyn, New York. She lived in a tiny two-bedroom apartment and sewed wedding dresses shimmering in satin and lace.

Her father tells stories of his mother, the girl’s other grandmother, who liked to cook bubbling dal on a coal stove in Pakistan. They tell stories about how both sides came to America, and how, eventually, her parents met on a warm summer evening in Poughkeepsie.

The girl sometimes feels as if she's the “only one like me.” One day, when she spots a butterfly in her yard, she realizes it’s okay to be different—no two butterflies are alike, after all. It’s okay to feel alone sometimes, but also happy and proud. It’s okay to feel-- and be-- many things at once.

About The Author

Veera Hiranandani, author of the Newbery Honor–winning The Night Diary, earned her MFA in creative writing at Sarah Lawrence College. She is the author of The Whole Story of Half a Girl, a Sydney Taylor Notable Book and a South Asia Book Award finalist, and How to Find What You're Not Looking For, winner of the Sydney Taylor Book Award and the New York Historical Society Children's History Book Prize. A former editor at Simon & Schuster, she now teaches in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA Program at The Vermont College of Fine Arts.Nadia Alam is a second-generation Bangladeshi Canadian illustrator. She is the illustrator of Awake, Asleep by Kyle Lukoff, which received three starred reviews, and The Wishing Machine by Jonathan Hillman, called "beautifully heartbreaking and heartening" in a starred review from Booklist. She lives in Toronto with her husband, daughter, son, and dog named Momo.


Reviews

Goodreads review by YSBR on March 28, 2025

As she works on a scrapbook with her parents, a young biracial girl shares her family’s history and how her forebears’ experiences have shaped her own life.  Her maternal side is Jewish: her grandfather escaped the pogroms in Poland in 1920, and her grandmother grew up in a tenement in Brooklyn.  He......more

Goodreads review by Barbara on February 22, 2025

Man! I love this author's writing. Along with the tender prose and relatable protagonist, the artwork in this picture book is stunning. Created with pencil and Photoshop, the illustrations showcase a loving multicultural family, foods, butterflies, roots, and tender scenes from the past. Although th......more

Goodreads review by Read on April 29, 2025

Newbery Honor author Veera Hiranandani's (who wrote Night Diary) latest effort is a picture book based on her family history. She tells the story of the diversity -- a maternal grandmother who grew up in Brooklyn and earned a living sewing wedding dresses, a paternal grandmother from India who cooke......more

Goodreads review by Richetta on May 16, 2025

A book about a biracial girl whose family is also interfaith. I love how the history & reasons behind her families migration were shared. On her mother’s side her grandparents were Jews who escaped the pogroms in Poland in the 1920s. On her father’s side her grandparents had to relocate after Great......more

Goodreads review by Kelly {SpaceOnTheBookcase] on January 31, 2025

What does it mean to be everything at once? For the FMC it means being part Indian and part American, part Hindu and part Jewish. Our families are made up of a lot different combinations, but for younger children who are trying to discover who they are, it can be frustrating and confusing. Drawing f......more


Quotes

"This thoughtful portrait explores the doubt that many interfaith and biracial children feel about not fully belonging....A quiet reflection on belonging and acceptance." —Kirkus Reviews

"A tender personal story with universal themes of plurality that young readers will enjoy." —Booklist

"This picture book is a gentle, age-appropriate acknowledgement of how feeling “many things at once” is part of belonging to multiple cultures while still celebrating the rich histories and traditions of each." —The Bulletin


Awards

  • Asian/Pacific American Librarians Association (APLA)-Literature Award