Quiet Time with My Seeya - by Dinalie Dabarera (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Sometimes, the moments that Sona spends with her Sinhalese grandfather, her seeya, are quiet. They speak different languages and don't always use words. But they do communicate in other ways. Sometimes, they're loud. They play dress-up, stomp in puddles, and pretend to be puppies. They cook pittu, tease each other when they're messy, and read to each other, even though they might not understand what the other is saying. Any time that Sona and Seeya share is special, whether quiet or loud, because they get to spend it together. Dinalie Dabarera's debut picture book is an achingly tender meditation on the unconditional love that can transcend all languages."--Publisher marketing.

Book Synopsis

A lush and endearing picture book about the special days a child spends with her Sinhalese grandfather, her Seeya, despite their language barrier.

Sometimes, the moments that Sona spends with her seeya are quiet. They speak different languages and don't always use words. But they do communicate in other ways.

Sometimes, they're loud. They play dress-up, stomp in puddles, and pretend to be puppies. They cook pittu, tease each other when they're messy, and read to each other, even though they might not understand what the other is saying.

Any time that Sona and Seeya share is special, whether quiet or loud, because they get to spend it together.

Dinalie Dabarera's debut picture book is an achingly tender meditation on the unconditional love that can transcend all languages.

Review Quotes

2024 Bank Street Best Book of the Year

★ "A visually and textually gorgeous story about love in a multilingual family." --Kirkus, starred review

★ "[The art is] sweetly affectionate [with] lavish colored pencil scenes whose visible grain summons a velvety dimensionality. Throughout, onomatopoeic phrases get to the root of the duo's emotional reactions and their tenderly rendered bond, which offers an image of camaraderie and relative quiet as love's true language." --Publisher's Weekly, starred review

"This will resonate with intergenerational families in which linguistic and cultural differences may be an obstacle for communication--at least on the surface... [A] welcome addition to the growing canon of immigrant stories for children." --Booklist

About the Author

Dinalie Dabarera is the author and illustrator of Quiet Time with Seeya. Her previous book The Cat with the Coloured Tail, written by Gillian Mears, was nominated for the Children's Book Council Australia Award for New Illustrator, as well as multiple other industry awards including an Australian Book Industry Award. She lives and works on unceded Gadigal land (Sydney, Australia). Visit her at dinalie.com.