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“Written by artist Shahzia Sikander with award-winning author Amy Novesky, and featuring artwork by Hanna Barczyk, Roots and Wings is a colorful introduction to a multicultural perspective that will inspire young readers to use art and imagination to explore new worlds.”

– Publisher

Roots and Wings: How Shahzia Sikander Became an Artist

Written by Shahzia Sikander and Amy Novesky
Illustrated by Hanna Barczyk
Published by ABRAMS - Museum of Modern Art, New York

In this picture book, Pakistani American artist Shahzia Sikander recounts how growing up as a tomboy in a multicultural home in Pakistan inspired her to become an artist.

Growing up in a multigenerational, multicultural home in Lahore, Pakistan, where her family’s Muslim traditions are filled with food and rituals, Shahzia is surrounded by stories of all kinds. At the Catholic school she attends, she studies Western literature, and at home, her father regales her and her siblings with fantastical tales from a Russian storybook on animals. Shahzia’s love for books leads to a fascination with illustrations, like the ones she sees in illuminated manuscripts and South Asian miniature portraits, and she discovers a talent for drawing. Through art, Shahzia is able to create the different worlds she reads about, using her imagination to take her beyond the walls of the home she grows up in.

Primary ISBN: 9781633450356
Publication Date: May 2021
Available As: Hardcover
Picture Book, Memoir, Age 04 or older

Community Represented:

Themes: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Setting: Pakistan (Lahore), United States (New York City NY)

Character's Place in the Immigration Journey: Home Country, Immigrant

Book Creator(s) Connection to the Community Represented: Own Voices/Lived Experience

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