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Padma Venkatraman explores family bonds in new picture book
Faraway Family follows a young girl's journey to connect with distant relatives through imagination and play.
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Malvika Choudhary - Sat, 27, Jun 2026
- 18:23 EDT
- 37
Faraway Family's poster / penguinrandomhouse.com
Award-winning Indian American author Padma Venkatraman is set to make her picture-book debut with a children's book exploring the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren, scheduled for release on Aug. 25.
Published by Nancy Paulsen Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House, Faraway Family is aimed at readers ages 3 to 7 and centers on a young girl visiting relatives in another country who initially feel like strangers.
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A bedtime power outage leads to an unexpected bonding experience when her grandmother invites her into a game of shadow play, helping bridge emotional, linguistic and cultural distances.
Illustrated by Nicole Wong, Faraway Family examines themes of belonging, intergenerational relationships and multicultural identity, reflecting experiences familiar to many immigrant and diaspora families separated from extended relatives by geography.
The book has already drawn early critical acclaim. School Library Journal awarded it a starred review, describing it as a story that captures "a familiar yet often underexplored childhood experience."
The review said the grandmother-granddaughter interaction "transcends language barriers and creates a shared space of imagination and joy," adding that the book offers "representation and reassurance to children with 'faraway families'" and would be well suited for classrooms and libraries serving diverse communities.
Publishers Weekly also praised the title, calling it "a solidly comforting story that's relatable for anyone building a new connection."
Faraway Family marks Venkatraman's first picture book after a career writing award-winning novels for children and young adults, including The Bridge Home, Born Behind Bars, Safe Harbor, A Time to Dance, Island's End and Climbing the Stairs. Her works have received honors including the Walter Award, the Golden Kite Award and the South Asia Book Award.
Born in India, Venkatraman trained as an oceanographer before turning to writing full time. She has lived in five countries and now resides in Rhode Island. In addition to fiction, she writes poetry and founded Diverse Verse, an initiative promoting inclusive children's poetry.
Venkatraman studied at Brockwood Park School before earning master's and doctoral degrees in chemical and physical oceanography from William & Mary. She later completed postgraduate studies and postdoctoral research in environmental engineering at Johns Hopkins University before pursuing a career in children's literature.
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