Namaste Is a Greeting

Discover namaste’s many meanings in a simple, lyrical text, paired with a charmingly detailed visual narrative about a little girl’s kindness.

Namaste calms your heart when things aren’t going right.
Namaste is saying “You matter.”

What is namaste? It’s found in a smile, a friendship, a celebration. It exists in silence; it can be said when you’re happy or when you’re feeling low. For one small girl in a bustling city, namaste (“I bow to you”) is all around her as she and her mother navigate a busy marketplace—and when she returns with a little plant and chooses to give it to an elderly neighbor, it can be seen in the caring bond between them. In a sweet, universal text, debut author Suma Subramaniam shines a light on a word with significance far beyond yoga class, while artist Sandhya Prabhat makes the concept of mindfulness come alive in delightful illustrations likely to draw children in again and again.

Suma Subramaniam earned her MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts and a certificate in popular fiction from the University of Washington. Suma Subramaniam lives in Washington State.

Sandhya Prabhat is an award-winning illustrator and animator whose books include I Am Brown by Ashok Banker, Ignore the Trolls by Jordan Gershowitz, Usha and the Big Digger by Amitha Jagannath Knight, and books in the Om Child series. Originally from Chennai, India, Sandhya Prabhat is now based in the Bay Area.