“My mother has two tongues. With one tongue, she speaks Malayalam. With the other, she speaks English.” Young Sumi (Indian American) explains that her mother changes the language she speaks depending on who she’s with and what she’s doing. With Sumi’s grandmother, she speaks Malayalam, her first language. To the cashier at the store, she speaks English. And to Sumi, she speaks a combination, “the two tongues … now woven together like fine cloth.” Sumi tells about her mom’s childhood in Kerala, India, speaking Malayalam at home. Her mom learned English in school, before coming to America, and speaks it with an accent. “A person’s accent holds hints about what their first language might be, or where they might be from.” Sumi’s first language was also Malayalam; she’s learned English, her second tongue, in her neighborhood and at school. She has other family members who speak even more languages. “My family reminds me that each language is like a muscle. It needs exercise and practice to grow strong.” One day, Sumi hopes to have a “tapestry of tongues,” to speak to people around the world. This welcome, purposeful story offers an accessible metaphor for the ability to speak multiple languages while matter-of-factly affirming the value in doing so. Warm, vibrant mixed media illustrations are full of lively details of Sumi’s family and experiences. (Ages 5-9)

In a sparkling debut authored by a sixteen-year-old daughter of immigrants, this ode to the power of multilingualism gives voice to the lasting benefits of speaking with more than one tongue.

Sumi's mother can speak two languages, Malayalam and English. And she can switch between them at the speed of sound: one language when talking to Sumi's grandmother, another when she addresses the cashier. Sometimes with Sumi she speaks a combination of both. Could it be she possesses a superpower? With awe and curiosity, young Sumi recounts the story of her mother's migration from India and how she came to acquire two tongues, now woven together like fine cloth. Rahele Jomepour Bell's inviting illustrations make playful use of visual metaphors, while Uma Menon's lyrical text, told astutely from a child's perspective, touches lightly on such subjects as linguistic diversity and accent discrimination ("no matter how they speak, every person's voice is unique and important"). This welcome debut, penned when the author was still a teenager, is an unabashed celebration of the gift of multilingualism--a gift that can transport people across borders and around the world.