A new picture book from Simran Jeet Singh, A Vaisakhi to Remember celebrates community and heritage as a young girl looks for points of connection in a new country through the joyous Sikh spring harvest holiday of Vaisakhi.
In our village, the best day of all was Vaisakhi, the spring harvest festival . . .
When a Sikh family moves from their village in India to a faraway city on the other side of the world, a girl yearns for her grandmother’s hugs, her goat Ramu, and the lush fields filled with yellow flowers and wheat. How will they celebrate Vaisakhi in her new and unfamiliar surroundings?
But the girl soon discovers soothing touchstones—a special outfit, a trip to gurdwara, delicious food, and new friends—that make gathering for Vaisakhi still the best day of all.
With gorgeous, intricate illustrations by debut children’s book illustrator Japneet Kaur, this touching story from Simran Jeet Singh shows us that while life changes, home is where we build community and carry traditions forward.
A Vaisakhi to Remember by Simran Jeet Singh & Japneet Kaur
Format: Hardback
Publisher: Kokila
Publication Date: 2025
Simran Jeet Singh, Ph.D is Executive Director for the Religion & Society Program at the Aspen Institute and a visiting professor of history and religion at Union Theological Seminary. He is a Soros Equality Fellow with the Open Society Foundations, and in 2020 TIME magazine recognized him among sixteen people fighting for a more equal America. He is a columnist for the Religion News Service, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, and on CNN.
