An Author's Dilemma ~Children's book with Sikh characters

I have a friend named Jasmin, who loves hot weather to the extent that heat waves are a celebrated event for her. I was convinced she would make a great character for a children’s story, one day. Though I had never written a children’s story before, I found myself often inspired by children’s books and programming. With ink, paper and a lot of elbow grease, Jasmin’s Summer Wish was born, and I set out to have it published.

As I waited for a favored publishing house to respond to my submitted manuscript, I could already imagine the book coming to life, so I hired an illustrator thinking that an illustrated submission would bolster my chances of getting my book published.

Jasmin bashfully asked if I could make the main character look like her—long flowing black hair and a kara on the right wrist. Knowing that I wanted the illustrations to reflect the diversity of New York City, I said yes without hesitation and gave her a little brother, Sandeep, who wore a blue dastaar. I put up a few inkings of the characters on the book’s Facebook page, and soon after, received a breadth of unexpected support from the Sikh community.

Parents expressed to me the importance of having a US-based story with characters that their children could identify with. And I learned that having a minority population represented in a book for the first time was invaluable, because this would also be the first time that other children saw their peers acknowledged in their reading.

I was thankful that I could contribute to both fulfilling this need and positively representing Sikh Americans in the media all while maintaining the essence of the story I wanted to tell. Now, Jasmin’s Summer Wish not only stood for accepting the diversity of seasons, but also accepting a diverse community.

A year after my submission, I received a letter from the publishing house asking me to come in and discuss possibly publishing Jasmin’s Summer Wish. Thanks to talented artists, Brandon Engelman and Alice Shafer, I came to the meeting armed with a fully illustrated book.

The editors at the publishing house were impressed with the illustrative vision, but they had a different idea of how my story should be told. The changing environment is a timely matter, and they were looking for a story that could represent the consequences of weather change without holding an opinion about global warming.

Though my manuscript represented just this, they felt that also including Sikh characters would pull attention away from the environmental message. Then they offered to publish my book and pair me up with a different illustrator, who would repaint their vision of my story. I would have no input on the characters.

I was faced with a very difficult decision. If I fulfilled my dream of becoming a published author, I would have to give up the characters that gave me real meaning to this project. But if I decided to forego the project with my illustrations, I would sacrifice my opportunity to be published and face the steep costs of the self-publishing world.

Before I could discuss my dilemma with my friends, Jasmin had shared a story with us about her family weekend. She pulled up an illustration of the book from her phone and showed it to her little cousin, who then yelled out, “Hey, that’s me!”

From this point on, I knew that my journey with Jasmin’s Summer Wish would be without the help of a major publishing house.*

You can read the story for FREE and find out about live readings in your neighborhood at www.jasminssummerwish.com

*This self-published journey was not accomplished alone. I have been working with Wilderness House Press (a small press that specifically caters to self-published authors) to help me carry out this dream. And I have been blessed with a number of supporters: parents, teachers, and temple leaders from around the country who all share in my belief of this positive message.

Jasmin’s Summer Wish is a picture book about a girl in New York City who wishes for year-round Summer weather. Her wish comes true, and when the hot climate changes the city’s environment, Jasmin learns a valuable lesson about the importance of seasons. This is the first children’s book to include Sikh characters in an urban setting. We hope this project can contribute really cool characters that Sikh kids in urban communities can identify with. The diverse cast in Jasmin’s Summer Wish encourages an inclusive play environment, and the story is one that can be shared and loved by everyone.   About the Book Jasmin’s Summer Wish is a picture book about a girl in New York City who wishes for year-round Summer weather. Her wish comes true, and when the hot climate changes the city’s environment, Jasmin learns a valuable lesson about the importance of seasons. This is the first children’s book to include Sikh characters in an urban setting. We hope this project can contribute really cool characters that Sikh kids in urban communities can identify with. The diverse cast in Jasmin’s Summer Wish encourages an inclusive play environment, and the story is one that can be shared and loved by everyone.

Meet the Characters When summer comes around, Jasmin is the adventurous and rambunctious leader of the pack. No matter how hot it gets, Jasmin will find something fun and mischievous for her and her friends to do. Kami loves exploring the hot and sweltering city with her close friend, Jasmin, but when she goes to sleep at night, she dreams about winter, sledding down big sloping hills in Prospect Park, and warming up with hot chocolate. Chad is the calm and easy-going friend who loves to watch and play games, especially basketball. His ever-adventurous neighbor, Jasmin, will almost always rope him into excursions that might get them into trouble. Sandeep - “Sonny” – is the quiet and shy younger brother of Jasmin, who wears his heart on his sleeve. He looks up to his sister and her friends and follows them around wherever they go.