Books Arts

Hop in the minivan: 'Summer Is for Cousins' invites you on a family vacation

11:44am August 05, 2023

by Samantha Balaban

Summer Is For Cousins, written by Rajani LaRocca and illustrated by Abhi Alwar

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For Ravi, summer means beach days, long hikes, paddle boarding and ice cream. It means going to a big house by the water with his mom, dad, two uncles, two aunties, Thatha and Pati, and six cousins.

Ravi loves summer vacation with his family. But this year, he's also a little worried: His older cousin Dhruv is the only other boy. And this year, Dhruv is taller, his voice is deeper, and what if he's forgotten about all the things he and Ravi used to share? Like their favorite flavor of ice cream (banana)?

Rajani LaRocca says Summer Is for Cousins was inspired by vacations with her own 10 cousins in India.

"All of my favorite summer memories involved my cousins," she says. "Cousins are kind of like superstar relatives. Because they're kids, but they're not your siblings."

LaRocca filled the book with universal details. There's lots of sitting around doing nothing much in particular and there's lots and lots of food.

"We spend our days biking, playing, reading, napping," LaRocca writes in the book. "When it rains, we stay inside and work on a huge puzzle with tiny pieces."

LaRocca and illustrator Abhi Alwar didn't come up with the story together, though they do talk like they've been friends for years. Alwar says when she first got the manuscript, she immediately felt like she was on vacation with Ravi and his family.

Familiar faces

Alwar grew up in a double-immigrant family from South India. Her "cousins" were the other Tamil immigrants she grew up around in the U.S., as well as her relatives back home. Many of her family members appear in her illustrations.

"It's a lot of me and a lot of the people I know in this book," Alwar says. "I was like, 'I hope that's OK!' "

Thatha in the book? Alwar's own grandfather, who was perhaps a little annoyed by how short she drew him. Her dad spotted himself in the story cutting vegetables. Her brother did not recognize himself as Ravi, but he definitely is.

"My brother was basically like, 'Oh, wow, Abhi for once I'm not in your book.' And I was like, 'Look again, you are the main character,' " Alwar laughs.

As for herself, Alwar admits she's more of an introvert. Growing up in a huge family where people were always coming and going was "a lot," she says. She drew Ravi's older sister, Anita, in her own image.

"She's the one taking pictures and being a little bossy, as older sisters are," says Alwar. Anita is the documentarian — not in the thick of things as much but always observing.

"I really loved being on the outside and kind of enjoying watching all of these interactions," she says. There are a lot of little interactions and small moments in the illustrations: cousin Jaya feeding ice cream to the dog. Thatha taking a nap at the beach. Dhruv sitting on a puzzle piece. The Polaroids that Anita takes adorn the endpages of the book.

Even LaRocca is in the book — she and Alwar appear as little stick figures, on a sailboat, in a picture hanging on the wall in the vacation house. It's very small, but you can see Alwar's glasses and LaRocca's curly hair. They're waving.

"I hope we're not saying "Mayday!'" LaRocca says.

"No, no," says Alwar. "We're starting an adventure!"

'She knew exactly who these people were'

LaRocca says you can tell Alwar used people who were important to her as inspiration throughout this book.

"I think that that's why they're so charming and loveable," LaRocca says. Though she also had to apologize for the sheer number of characters — 15! — in this story.

"I didn't realize what I was asking of an illustrator," she laughs.

But Alwar took it in stride, making a family tree to help keep track of each person. "It was just so important for all the future parts of the process and creating these little tableaus of this vacation," she explains, "because I'd be like, 'OK, now they're at the beach. Who likes to be at the beach? Who doesn't like to be at the beach? Who would be probably talking on the phone? Who is probably eating snacks right now? Who wants to go home?'"

"She knew exactly who these people were," adds LaRocca.

And Alwar took her research a step further — she made a shared album online and asked her family and friends to add reference photos. Since Ravi's family is staying at a house that is by both a lake and the ocean, Alwar used Airbnb to research locations and find places and houses that she could screenshot and use as inspiration. (She decided it could be in Maine.)

When it came to actually illustrating the book, Alwar chose a cartoonish style, with bright colors, and a very specific color scheme. There's lots of sunny, cheerful yellow — sandy beaches, spaghetti, corn on the cob and, of course, banana ice cream — complemented by purple line art. The result is chaotic — in a good way — the illustrations are crowded and colorful, with tons of people on each page and a lot going on.

'There were just many things that I didn't have to say'

Newbery Honor winner Rajani LaRocca has written children's books before, including I'll Go and Come Back, Where Three Oceans Meet and Masala Chai, Fast and Slow but says she doesn't always get the opportunity to work with illustrators who share her background.

"When I wrote the book, I made it very specifically a South Indian Tamil family," LaRocca says. "I will say that in seeing Abhi's work, there were just many things that I didn't have to say." She didn't have to explain the way the parents were all part of the meal preparation process, or the mish-mash of South Indian and American food.

Alwar says that was very intentional. "Growing up as a South Indian Tamil girl who is also American, living in the Midwest, I intentionally made sure that there are details like, bindis ... making chai on a rainy day — very important."

Both LaRocca and Alwar agree, without having discussed it beforehand, that of course Thatha and Pati would always be sitting on chairs right next to the food.

"This is important to me to illustrate," says Alwar. "And I hope important to other South Indian Tamil girls out there who like seeing themselves in this book."

That level of detail, LaRocca says, is what makes readers relate to the story. "The more specific you are, the more that you make people feel like these are real people, the more universal it becomes. Because people say, 'Oh, that's kind of like me!' Or, 'I know somebody like that.' "

One day, the cousins take turns on the rope swing at the lake. Last year, Ravi was too afraid — but this year he gives it a try. And that's when he realizes that he's growing up, too. Just like his big cousin Dhruv. "Dhruv is my big cousin," LaRocca writes. "But now I'm bigger, too." It's bittersweet, in a way.

"Isn't it funny you can be nostalgic as a kid, too," LaRocca says. "That's a special moment in a child's life where they realize that they're also getting bigger and that brings all kinds of emotions with it."

LaRocca says the message she hopes kids take away from this book is that families grow and change, and so does the love they share.

Some things don't have to change, though. In the end, Ravi is happy to learn that banana is still Dhruv's favorite flavor of ice cream, after all.

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Summer's a time for swimming outside, playing cards and talking through the night. Summer is for ice cream and just doing nothing. Summer is for cousins.

RAJANI LAROCCA: Cousins are kind of like superstar relatives because they're kids, but they're not your siblings.

SIMON: "Summer Is For Cousins" is a new children's book by Rajani LaRocca. It's about a little boy named Ravi, who looks forward to his family vacation with his mother, father, Thatha, Pati and his six cousins.

LAROCCA: Ravi loves this time with his cousins, but he's a little worried this year because his oldest cousin, Dhruv, the only other boy, has gotten a lot bigger. He's a lot taller. His voice is deeper. And Ravi wonders whether he's forgotten about all the things they used to share, including their favorite flavor of ice cream.

SIMON: Spoiler alert - it's banana. I've never had banana ice cream, but now I'm intrigued. Rajani LaRocca and illustrator Abhi Alwar both come from big extended families, and they have lots of cousins. For our series "Picture This," they talk about creating this book and how, in one way or another, they both wound up in the story.

LAROCCA: All of my favorite summer memories involved my cousins. So I grew up in the United States, but I was born in India. And so every few years we would go to see my extended family in India. And I have 10 cousins, and we used to spend a lot of time together. And those are just precious memories for me.

ABHI ALWAR: My family is also, like, a South Indian Tamil immigrant family, and I ended up growing up around other families who are also Tamil immigrants. And we all kind of grew up together. In that way, I had a lot of cousins here. I'm a huge introvert also, I should mention. So, like, growing up in a huge family where people would keep coming and going, coming and going inside our house - it was a lot for me, but I really loved being on the outside and kind of, like, enjoying watching all of these interactions. And in that way, one of the characters, Anita, Ravi's older sister, was kind of a stand-in for me, I think. She's the one taking pictures and being a little bossy, you know, as older sisters are. That part of it was really important, to, like, be able to capture small interactions with all sorts of different pairings and groups of people within this family and a lot of fun little moments and expressions - a lot of expressions.

LAROCCA: So if I could describe Abhi's artwork, it's so energetic, and it's really sweet. I don't know how you captured both the craziness of a large family being on vacation together and also the closeness of all the various characters. But you did it.

ALWAR: It is a little more, like, cartoonish characters, but I've kind of set them in a very vivid, lush world as much as possible. I love using a lot of bright colors, and I tried to use a lot of - specifically a lot of yellows and purples because of this particular flavor of ice cream. I was like, let me make sure to complement it with a lot of purples.

LAROCCA: I don't think I would have realized that if you hadn't told me, Abhi (laughter).

ALWAR: Yeah. Banana is the color scheme of the book (laughter).

LAROCCA: I noticed all the purple. I really do love the purple. And I didn't realize that it was because it needed to contrast with the yellow. That was so interesting. And I had to apologize to her for making her illustrate 15 different characters.

ALWAR: (Laughter) Yeah.

LAROCCA: I said I didn't realize what I was asking of an illustrator until I saw the final book. And then I was like, oh, my goodness, there are 15 people on this spread. How in the world did she do that? Not only did she do it brilliantly, she set up entire family trees. She knew exactly who these people were. And Abhi, I think it shows that you used a lot of people that mean something to you in the illustrations. I think that that's why they're so charming and so lovable.

ALWAR: Oh, thank you. Yeah, some people are literally lifted off from my real life. My own thatha and pati are the thatha and pati in this book (laughter). And we sent photos to them. And my thatha was like, oh, nice. He's kind of short, though. And I was like, yeah, you know.

LAROCCA: Oh, my goodness, it's so great. And then I got to meet Abhi's father, and he's like, I recognize myself. I am the one that is cutting vegetables.

ALWAR: (Laughter).

LAROCCA: It was so great.

ALWAR: Coming up with this family tree was so important for all the future parts of the process and creating all these little tableaus of this vacation. Because I'd be like, now they're at the beach. Who likes to be at the beach? Who doesn't like to be at the beach? Who would be probably talking on the phone? Who is probably eating snacks right now? Who wants to go home? This world-building - I love doing that. So I'm so thankful that this project gave me that opportunity because I was like, wow, I'm just going ham on this. I hope Rajani's OK with all this (laughter).

LAROCCA: Well, that, you know, alleviates some of my guilt...

ALWAR: (Laughter).

LAROCCA: ...From making you create 15 characters. You know, when I wrote the book, I mean, I made it very specifically a South Indian Tamil family. I have a bunch of picture books and not all of them are illustrated by people who share my background. But I will say that in seeing Abhi's work, there were just many things that I didn't have to say. You know, we didn't have to specify anything because she knew, because this is her lived experience also, what this family would be like - the way that all the parents were kind of part of the meal preparation process, what they might eat - which is hilarious because it's this mishmash of very South Indian food, also, like, some just general Indian food and then also American food, because that's totally what we would eat all the time anyway.

ALWAR: It was very intentional for me because I was like, it's going to be important for me to populate this book with these details that definitely mattered to me growing up as a South Indian Tamil girl who's also American living in the Midwest. I intentionally made sure that there were details like bindis, dupattas every once in a while, like, making chai on a rainy day - very important. I'm sure there are other little cultural details that I didn't even register, but I was like, obviously Thatha and Pati would be, like, sitting on chairs, like, sitting right next to the food - like, these little moments that, like, I probably didn't even register, and I was like, duh, but I know that this is important to me to illustrate, and I hope important to other South Indian Tamil girls out there who like seeing themselves in this book.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

SIMON: That was illustrator Abhi Alwar and author Rajani LaRocca talking about their children's book, "Summer Is For Cousins." Our series "Picture This" is produced by Samantha Balaban.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

ALWAR: I don't know if you caught this, Rajani - I mean, I don't - it's very small and subtle. But I put in an Easter egg of the two of us on a little boat in a picture frame.

LAROCCA: What?

ALWAR: It's in the one where - on the rainy day spread.

LAROCCA: I see us. We're waving. It's a sailboat.

ALWAR: Yup, yup.

LAROCCA: That's adorable. It's a little wavy in the ocean. That's a little scary. But we look happy.

ALWAR: We look happy embarking on this journey.

LAROCCA: I hope we're not saying mayday (laughter).

ALWAR: No, no - starting an adventure. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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