Author/illustrator Nidhi Chanani will be at the Palisades library drawing sharks.
If you have children in grades k-3, or grandchildren in that age bracket, mark your calendar for 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 10.
Barbara Birenbaum, the adult Palisade Branch Librarian wrote on May 4, “We have a last minute very exciting children’s author program next Wednesday, author and illustrator Nidhi Chanani will be at the library.”
Chanani is the author of “Shark Princess” graphic novel series for early-readers. She will talk about her books, “Shark Party,” and “Pashima.” And she will draw sharks. There will be print giveaways.
Librarian Birenbaum said the program is geared for the lower grades, but anyone who loves graphic novels, or authors, or sharks, is welcome. “Let’s make it a fantastic SHARK PARTY!” Birenbaum said.
Booklist in a review praised Shark Princess, writing:
“The story is overt in its message of self-love, and the digitally rendered artwork is clean and simple with calming washes of ocean blue and scattered bursts of fun color. A wholesome addition to the growing collection of early graphic novels for beginning readers.”
Publishers Weekly wrote about the book: “Who gets to be a princess? That’s the crux of this firmly inclusive, emotionally generous graphic novel by Chanani. Readers are immersed in an undersea cartoon world where Kitana, a whale shark sporting a seashell-and-starfish crown, is the self-declared ‘first shark princess.’ Mack worries that [his] dangerous teeth and severe allergies are instant disqualifiers [to be a princess], but it’s his realization that expression and identity aren’t about rules or permission that make this series starter sparkle.”
Nidhi Chanani was born in Kolkata, India, in 1980 and moved to Southern California with her parents when she was four months old. She received a degree in literature from UC Santa Cruz and attended the Academy of Art University in San Francisco for a brief time before dropping out and eventually beginning her career as an artist/ writer. She has worked with Hasbro, Paramount Pictures and Disney.
Chanani lives with her husband, daughter and two cats in the San Francisco Bay area. (Visit: everydayloveart.com)