Diwali or Divali or Deepavali—these are some of the spellings for the Indian Festival of Lights, but my spell checker doesn't recognize any of them. India is the most populated democratic country on the planet, with 1.1 billion people, yet this festival still hasn't made it very far into the diversity consciousness of America.

Basic overview books on Diwali are relatively available. National Geographic's Celebrate Diwali naturally illustrates the holiday through illuminating photographs of the celebration itself, as does Enslow Publishing's Diwali: the Hindu Festival of Lights, Feasts, and Family. Diwali is included in standard "celebration" books and series, but it's only given a page or two at most. Likewise, DK Publishing's guide book India, offers only a brief survey of the holiday.

Diving deeper involves reading the background story of Rama battling the demon, Ravana, with the help of the monkey-king, Hanuman, for the return of his wife, Sita, from the island of Lanka. Got it? If not, grownups with a generous budget can consult Ramayana: A Tale of Gods and Demons from Mandala Publishing. Beautiful artwork by B.G. Sharma and text by the seminal Ranchor Prime craft the 22,000-verse lyric poem by Valmiki into a coffee table-sized, 144-page artbook depicting the major events.

Taking a more specific approach, Tricycle Press' Hanuman by Erik Jendresen and Joshua M. Greene, Li Ming, illustrator, creates a vivid, detailed and boy-accessible approach to the key figure in the story and is painted in an action-packed style that appeals to the comic book crowd without pandering. Author-illustrator David Wietzman's poignant, detailed, and layered artwork in Rama and Sita (David R. Godine Publishers) does a masterful job of taking the Ramayana story to new artistic heights.

But Diwali deserves more cultural context than simply reviewing the Ramayana story. Several books about the people of India offer non-fiction references to the celebration. I is for India, with text and photographs by Prodeepta Das (Frances Lincoln Children's Books) is a great book for all ages, with helpful terminology that uses the English alphabet as its backbone. (While D isn't for Diwali, L is for light, when candles are lit to celebrate Rama's return to Ayodhya with his wife, Sita.)

There are five days in the Diwali celebration. Try counting in Hindi with Count Your Way Through India by James Haskins (Liz Brenner Dodson, illustrator, Carolrhoda Books) to help associate numbers with each day. Take a look at the fall seasons of India with Uma Krishnaswami's award-winning Monsoon (Jamel Akib, illustrator, published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and check out KidHaven Press' Science Library title, Monsoons, for a photographic depiction.

But what about all of those deviant spellings? I even forgot to mention Divaali! The history of India can become challenging for young minds unfamiliar with the religions (or older minds unfamiliar with the politics) of such a complex country. For help sorting out the details, there is no shortcut, but there are many short paths. One is Chachaji's Cup by Uma Krishnaswami (Soumya Sitaraman, illustrator, Children's Book Press). For 10-12 year olds, it brings to light some of the painful issues of eastern Indians who fled to America during the 1947 partition of India-Pakistan.

Will Diwali ever be as popular as Kwanzaa or Chinese New Year? Depending on your neighborhood's Indian makeup, it might already be! For many of us, though, books still remain the best avenue until then.

Posted November 2007