Tina Athaide is an educator and children’s book author. She was born in Uganda and emigrated to London, UK, and then to Canada. Athaide now lives in Southern California. Athaide completed her bachelor studies at the University of Alberta. Her Asian Indian family’s expulsion from Uganda in 1972 is explored in some of her writing. Athaide also authored a collection of early readers: Best Friends, Pran’s Week of Adventure, Yum, Apples!, Flora’s Box, and At The Firehouse With Dad. (Lee and Low Book/Bebop) These readers are available in English and Spanish language editions.
Fiction (Juvenile, Picture book)
Meena’s Mindful Moment
Illustrated by Åsa Gilland.
Salem, Mass.: Page Street Kids, 2021.
Publisher’s Synopsis
Meena is excited to visit Dada and explore all the exciting sights and sensations of his home with him. But Meena has so much energy, it becomes a whole imaginary character she calls her hurly-burly hullabaloo. Wherever Meena goes, her hurly-burly hullabaloo goes too. Together they’re never calm, as they run and cartwheel and make a lot of noise!
But when Meena makes a mess, her grandfather is there to teach her how to handle it with deep breaths and meditative poses―after all, he has a hurly-burly hullabaloo too.
Fiction
Orange for the Sunsets
New York: Katherine Tegen Books, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers.
PS3501.T343 O736 2019
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
Asha and her best friend, Yesofu, never cared about the differences between them: Indian. African. Girl. Boy. Short. Tall.
But when Idi Amin announces that Indians have ninety days to leave the country, suddenly those differences are the only things that people in Entebbe can see—not the shared after-school samosas or Asha cheering for Yesofu at every cricket game.
Determined for her life to stay the same, Asha clings to her world tighter than ever before. But Yesofu is torn, pulled between his friends, his family, and a promise of a better future. Now as neighbors leave and soldiers line the streets, the two friends find that nothing seems sure—not even their friendship.
Tensions between Indians and Africans intensify and the deadline to leave is fast approaching. Could the bravest thing of all be to let each other go?
Awards and Honours
2020 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People (Winner)
Fiction (Novel-in-verse)
Wings to Soar
Watertown, MA: Charlsebridge Moves, 2024.
PS3501.T343 W56 2024
Publisher’s Synopsis (From its website)
It’s 1972 and Viva’s Indian family has been expelled from Uganda and sent to a resettlement camp in England, but not all of them made the trip. Her father is supposed to meet them in London, but he never shows up. As they wait for him, Viva, her mother, and her sister get settled in camp and try to make the best of their life there.
Just when she is beginning to feel at home with new friends, Viva and her family move out of the camp and to a part of London where they are not welcome. While grappling with the hate for brown-skinned people in their new community, Viva is determined to find her missing father so they can finish their move to Canada. When it turns out he has been sponsored to move to the United States, they have to save enough money to join him.
Told in verse, Wings to Soar follows a resilient girl and the friendships she forges during a turbulent time.
Awards and Honours
2025 Geoffrey Bilson Award for Historical Fiction for Young People (Finalist)
Links
Tina Athaide personal website
Publisher Charlesbridge Moves
Publisher HarperCollinsCanada
Publisher Lee & Low Books
Publisher Page Street Publishing, owner of the Page Street Kids imprint