Jyoti Gopal: Hi, my name is Jyoti Rajan Gopal. I am the author of American Desi, illustrated by Supriya Kelkar. It actually started off as a poem for grownups. And I don't know why I wrote that poem. It was not a great poem. But as I kept reflecting on what I had written, I realized that I had something that I needed to say, and that the voice that I needed to say it in was really my younger self. And I was thinking about my daughters who are American Desis. And that's when I sat down to write it for young children. That's the voice and the flow American Desi, in terms of rhyming picture book.

And it's inspired by the fact that I grew up straddling multiple cultures. I was not born in this country. I was not born in India, but I'm an Indian American. I lived in many different Asian countries, in international schools, and I straddled all these different cultures, and I feel like I fit everywhere, but I didn't fit anywhere also. I was constantly dealing with this feeling of being a foreigner, a firangi, as we say in India. I think it took me a while to come to terms with embracing all of those possibilities that straddling multiple cultures gave me, and I really wanted to write this picture book so that I could help children see the possibilities and the magical beauty of being able to straddle all these different cultures. There are tensions and challenges, but there are also these amazing things that make you pretty cool, and that's what I wanted to embrace in this book.

My favorite part was the fact that I was able to tell the story of me, but also the story of my daughters. This book is dedicated to my daughters, Vedika and Keerti. I think as Indian American children, I did not realize how much of straddling they did, even though I had done that in my international life. It was very different for them being born in America, made in America, but also being Desi. And I learned so much from them about that tug and pull of having to shift back and forth between their South Indian American home, but then in a very white school, and trying to figure out where they fit in as Americans. It was really special to me to be able to tell their story, and through their story illuminate for other young children too, who might be going through the same thing.

It can be about straddling cultures, but I think it's also about straddling identities, whatever those identities might be. It might be religious. It might be cultural. It might be anything at all that has nothing to do with either culture or religion. I hope that it opens up in that way that children can see themselves, because I think we all straddle parts of ourselves, some of which we share and some of which we don't, because we feel like we can't in some places. And I think it's important for us to be able to bring our whole selves to wherever we are, so I hope this book encourages children to bring their whole selves to those spaces.

I hope kids really enjoy the juicy vocabulary that I use in this book. Juicy vocabulary is something that I've always talked about in my kindergarten classroom, as words that have depth and texture and meaning, and can make you feel something when you hear them. And I've used a lot of juicy vocabulary. I hope that children really love diving into it. And the rhyme, I hope really helps in being a read aloud that can be read over and over again, and that brings, I hope, some dancing and some music to the reading as well. That's what I hope children will enjoy.

I'm going to read the first few pages of American Desi. Festive henna, garnet red. Bindis, bangles. Desi Queen. Fantasy hair, sea foam green, which is the color of me. Rhythmic stride, jaunty step. Jangly yellow Bollywood moves. Shimmery blue hip hop grooves, which is the color of me.