Review based on a digital galley provided via Netgalley.

4 stars

This is a wonderfully drawn story of Priyanka, a young Indian-American girl who is struggling with her identity. There is a mystery as to why her mother came to America, one she will not share. When one day Priyanka finds a pashmina in her mother’s old suitcase, she is transported to India (in her mind). This pashmina has magical powers – powers to show one what is possible. I don’t want to give too much away about the pashmina, or about Priyanka’s story, but I will say that this story is an empowering one. It is a story about coming to realize one’s place in the world, but also to embrace all sides of one’s self and the power that lies within each person. It is an especially empowering story for young girls who may not feel they have a voice, giving them the power to make choices about their lives.

The story is filled with love and caring. It is obvious that everyone in Priyanka’s life cares about her a great deal, from her friend at school, to her teacher, to her family in India – a family she has never met. As the book progresses, questions about her mother’s backstory are answered, as are questions about the magical pashmina, itself.

The style of the graphic novel is wonderful, with simple lines and easy to follow text. I especially like the effect that occurs when someone puts on the pashmina – the world becomes saturated with beautiful color.

While there were a few places where I wish the story had been fleshed out a little more, overall, I think the story was well laid out, providing a glimpse into a world many in America have not experienced. The universal story of finding one’s place in the world is a story that everyone can relate to and understand.

I was really looking forward to this one, and while I found it to be overall pleasant and readable, it's just missing that little something extra for me. You can tell it's supposed to be geared towards teens, but it reads much more like middle grade. The artwork is beautiful but on the simple side, and the story is interesting in concept but feels a little surface level. I'd say it feels like a slightly less polished Anya's Ghost.

This graphic novel is a perfect look into an Indian girl's navigation of her American life and her Indian history. Pri feels that she is being replaced by her new baby cousin. It has always been Pri, her mom, her aunt and her uncle. As the dynamics of her family begin changing, Pri starts asking more questions about her father and her mother's life in Indian. The desire to visit Indian becomes overwhelming, when she is transported there by a magical pashmina.

I love the color work in this graphic novel. It beautifully reinforces plot points. The story is sweet and interesting.

This graphic novel is incredibly lovely. Chanani illustrates one teen girl's search for identity and family, with a touch of magic. The main character is a second-generation Indian-American daughter of a single mother. Her mother has been quiet about her own past, and so when a blessed Pashmina gives the girl visions of India, she strives to discover more about her heritage and where her mother came from.
The illustrations are stunning. When in "real life", Chanani uses black and white panels, while magic is portrayed in brilliant color and the past is shades of sepia. For such a brief volume, it tells a powerful and uplifting story about cultural and familial understanding. Highly recommended to teens and tweens.

Priyanka is a second generation immigrant from India. For Pri (as she prefers to be called as it's easier for Americans to say), India is a mythical world that she only gets to glimpse through stories told of Shakti. Her mother refuses to talk too in depth about India at all. Pri doesn't even know her father's name. As she struggles to find her place, she feels even more pushed out when her uncle and aunt are about to have a baby. She's afraid she'll be pushed out of their lives. When she finds a pashmina that shows her an idealized version of India, she is determined to get there and see for herself where she came from.

The use of color in the fantasy sequences really stood out. Priyanka's coming to terms with the realities of India and her mother's circumstances was well developed and held a lot of emotional weight. The story of female empowerment, about being able to see the choices set before and the power to choose them, was powerful and well presented. As far as I'm concerned, this will become a classic graphic novel taught in schools and will appear on recommended lists for quite a while.

Pashmina tells the story of Priyanka, an Indian-American teen trying to find her place. Her mother's silence about India and Pri's father make it hard for Priyanka to know how to feel about herself. A magical pashmina shows Pri a colorful view of India, encouraging her to visit her aunt there, where she learns about India and her own family.
Pashmina has great messages for all girls about being yourself, loving your family, and reaching far for your goals.

This was a fantastic graphic novel, and I loved the complementing black/white vs. color graphics! The journey of this young girl was beautiful, and I think it will be great to bring in to schools to talk about immigration, and the idea of "the grass is always greener on the other side."

Priyanka is a first generation Indian-American teenager who starts to learn her family history after a magical pashmina (shawl) starts to show her images of India. Through the shawl, Priyanka convinces her mother to let her travel to India where she learns her family history and the history of women in India.

This book is a beautiful story about family history with a little bit of magic. The artwork in the comic is perfectly fitting and helps tell a wonderful story.

I absolutely loved this graphic novel. The story was fast paced and at times choked me up with how I felt for the characters. I think this is such an amazing book for any teacher or for any parents wanting to introduce their kids to a different culture. It doesn't go too much into the history but again would be a good introduction to Indian culture and spark interest.

In Nidhi Chanani's first graphic novel, magical shawl leads to a young woman finding out more about her family heritage, as it transports her to a fantasy version of India that eventually drives her to meet her mother's long-separated sister and find out what brought her family to America. The classic fairy tale setup is freshened by tackling the culture clash of following another country's traditions in a new land.

Priyanka Das’s mother does not like Priyanka asking questions about India and her life there, but that doesn’t stop Pri from being curious. When Pri finds a magical pashmina in an old suitcase, she is suddenly transported to the India of her dreams, full of color, good food, and majestic buildings. In order to find out if the India the pashmina showed her is as beautiful as it seems and if it has the answer she’s been looking for, she must journey there herself.

PASHMINA is a beautifully illustrated graphic novel full of family and history. Priyanka yearns to know more about her family: who her father is, what her mom’s life was like in India, etc. Readers will find her curiosity relatable and realistic, just like the bond between Pri and her mother. Both love each other dearly, but they have parts of themselves that are hard to discuss and explain. Chanani captures the emotion spectacularly, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you get a little (or more) misty eyed at parts.

While I love Priyanka’s journey to discover where her family comes from and what that means to her, the story can be a little choppy. There were several times I had to go back a page or two to try to understand what had happened. Similarly, I felt the pashmina magic wasn’t as well explained as it could have been. We definitely get an answer as to what it does, but I was still confused about what exactly that meant.

While I was left confused in parts, the wonderful family portrayal, the meaningful journey of learning more about yourself and the world around you, and the gorgeous colors in the novel make this story a splendid and important read.

Teenage angst, finding your place in high school, and dealing with mean girls are all thing Priyanka experiences in Pashmina, a graphic novel appropriate for elementary students to high school. Pri, as she likes to be called has many questions about why her mother left India, and raised Pri by herself and won't speak of her father. Then there is the mysterious suitcase in the hall closet, what is hidden inside? Read Pashmina to find out.

This is such a cute, endearing graphic novel. I just fell in love with Pri. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.

There are so many things that I really enjoyed about this graphic novel! I enjoyed the contrast between the black and white pages and color pages. Limiting the number of color pages really made them pop! I also enjoyed the fantasy aspect woven into the story, and I enjoyed that the fantasy pages were the ones in color. This will really help to ensure that my students catch the difference between the realistic parts of the story versus the fantasy parts of the story. I also enjoyed the diverse nature of this book. I have a number of great diverse chapter books in my classroom library, but very few, if any, diverse graphic novels.
I enjoyed reading about Priyanka, Pri, and her desire to learn more about her Indian heritage. Growing up in America, and not getting many answers about life in India from her mother, Pri wants to learn more about her "home" country. She, along with her aunt, eventually talks her mother into letting her take a trip there. What she finds on her trip completely surprises her!
Overall, a beautiful graphic novel!

3-3.5 stars

Pashmina is a new graphic novel focused on family relationships, culture, and how far we will go to protect ourselves and the ones we love. Priyanka is American, but she is also Indian. With little knowledge of her family's history, she grows up in a fatherless home always wondering about her roots. Any attempt to get her mother to open up gets stonewalled, and the only father figure in her life is about to have far less time for her. It's this heartbreaking realization that drives Pri onto a magical journey of self discovery.

Dealing with several hot points of the day- bullying, growing up in a single parent home, multiculturalism- Pashmina is a book that will strike a cord with younger readers, girls and young women in particular. The artwork is presented in basic black and white for the mundane, day to day scenes. Then transforms into bold, beautiful, color rich illustrations when the author intends to show or imply more magical moments. At first I was somewhat disappointed by the simple, colorless design of this graphic novel. However, once I realized the author's reasoning and how she did incorporate such striking color infused drawings I no longer felt the b&w portions lacking. It wasn't my favorite book as of late, yet I'm glad to have read it.

Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for this review opportunity.

My favorite genre of graphic novel is the graphic memoir. Fun Home, Maus, and many more have taken over my heart. So, I had very high hopes. However, Pashmina did not disappoint. I connected with many of the elements personally, along with Priyanka herself. She's an amazingly sweet, realistic character. If I had children I would love for them to read Pashmina and get a sense of another culture while still enjoying a great read.

I'll be posting a full review on my blog, messmiah.wordpress.com, when the embargo on reviews has passed.

This was a lot of fun. The artwork was simple and beautiful, especially during the changes from black and white to colour whenever the pashmina was used. I liked that Priyanka wasn't always the most admirable character; she did/said some things that weren't good/nice but they were relatable given her current circumstances and how she was reckoning with her family history and the things she does and doesn't know. I loved her discoveries while she was in India visiting her aunt and uncle and especially liked that things weren't perfect for her aunt either; there was some nuance to her situation that gave insight into her family's culture as well as gave Priyanka a view into a different kind of life and further insight into how her mom became the person she is. I liked that things were a little messy at times--that there wasn't some neat explanation for everything--and that, despite the messiness, it gave Priyanka inspiration. This is a really fun comic with some great substance to it, and I loved learning more about India and Indian culture through it as well as getting to see Priyanka grow as a character.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In this beautifully illustrated graphic novel, there is a mother daughter story where the daughter learns to embrace her cultural identity. This story is beautifully told through vibrant art and colors. A rich look into Indian culture and lore.

Priyanka is a typical teenager struggling with her identity. Trying to learn more about her mother's past she seizes the opportunity to visit India and get some answers to her questions. With her, she takes a pashmina which is magical and has shown her visions of India. Alas, reality rarely matches fantasy and she finds she must learn about her family on her own. A lovely book for middle grade to older readers.

Pashmina is the story of an artistic high school girl, Priyanka, whose mother immigrated to America from India before she was born. Priyanka wants to know more about the Indian culture, and about her father, but her mother refuses to discuss either one. To make matters worse, Priyanka’s favorite uncle is having a child of his own and she feels left out. Then Priyanka finds a magical pashmina in an old suitcase, which transports her to the colorful, fascinating India of her dreams. Luckily, her aunt, who still lives in India, calls and invites Priyanka to visit. This visit answers Priyanka’s questions, shows her what her mother’s life was like before she left, and helps her continue her own artistic journey upon her return.

The strengths of this graphic novel are in the simple but endearing illustrations, the bursts of color that signal the pashmina’s magical escapades, and in the characterization of the teen lead, whose angsty behavior is just edgy enough without being off-putting. This would be a great companion to American Born Chinese or Persepolis, and could be enjoyed by students in middle or high school.