In the mountains of Meghalaya, India, a living bridge stands tall, connecting the land and its people with the interwoven roots of tall, wide ficus trees. The bridge is called Jingkieng Jri, and it’s alive. A little boy can’t wait to learn to weave the roots together just like the generations before him.
* Starred SLJ review
** JLG gold selection
MATH meets FUN in this heartwarming story. Idu (Ee-doo) and Adu (Aa-doo) want to eat the Gulab Jamuns Mama has made, but Mama has asked them to wait for the guests. But how does one stay away from soft, sticky, melt-in-your-mouth Gulab Jamuns?
Positive reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist Online, American Pacific Asian Librarians Association (APALA), and many more. In Curriculum of Children’s Literacy Initiative (CLI www.cli.org)
Adah Li at Algonquin Young Readers has bought world rights to Everywhere I Call Home by Sandhya Acharya (l.), illustrated by Chaaya Prabhat, a picture book about a girl’s discovery that home is more than the fog-filled redwoods and snow-filled peaks of her neighborhood in America or the Gulmohar blooms and peacocks’ monsoon dance at her family’s home in India. Publication is slated for fall 2026; Kathleen Rushall at Andrea Brown Literary Agency represented the author, and Christy Ewers at the CAT Agency represented the illustrator.
Sandhya Acharya grew up in India and now lives in the Bay Area, California with her family. Sandhya’s published picture books include narrative non-fiction LIVING BRIDGES, published by Beach Lane Books/Simon & Schuster, 10 GULAB JAMUNS, a Math/STEM fiction with heart and humor, and a forthcoming lyrical fiction EVERYWHERE I CALL HOME published by Little Brown Books for Young Readers, Hachette. She is also a substitute teacher and afterschool ELA teacher.
Besides children’s literature, her work has been featured in Washington Post, NPR(KQED), India Currents, Lost Balloon, Peacock Journal, Aaduna among others. When she is not writing or teaching, she is training for the next marathon, climbing a mountain, dancing Bharat Natyam, or volunteering. Represented by Kathleen Rushall from ABLA (Andrea Brown Literary Agency).
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